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Name

Hua Xie, DDS, PhD
Professor: Department Oral of Biology
(615) 327-5981
1005 Dr. D.B. Todd Boulevard
Nashville 37208

hxie@mmc.edu

Professional Education

Hubei Medical University, China (DDS, 1982)
Beijing Medical University, China (MS 1986)
University of Washington, Seattle, WA (PhD, 1998)

Research Interests

Two major oral infectious diseases, caries and periodontitis, are dental plaque (biofilm)-associated diseases. Dental plaque is a multispecies biofilm, and over 30 genera representing more than 500 species of bacteria have been found in this ecological environment. Despite this complexity, plaque formation is highly choreographed, beginning with initial colonization by a group of gram-positive aerobic bacteria, predominantly Streptococcus and Actinomyces, followed by a succession of gram-negative anaerobic bacteria.

Although dental plaque can be detected on tooth surfaces in every oral cavity, it does not always lead to periodontal diseases. The transition from a commensal .bacterial accumulation to periodontopathonic plaque involves the colonization of certain species of gram-negative anaerobic bacteria onto dental plaque, such as Porphyromonas gingivalis in the case of adult periodontitis. The long range goal of Dr. Xie's research is to gain a molecular understanding of events leading to the transformation of healthy plaque to pathogenic plaque and to change the course of development of pathogenic biofilm by preventing attachment of P. gingivalis.

She is using both gene array and proteomics tools to address the question of how communication is established between P. gingivalis and the primary colonizers of the dental biofilm, particularly Streptococcus cristatus and what are the mechanisms by which P. gingivalis is excluded from dental plaques by S. cristatus. A principal hypothesis that Streptococcus cristatus plays an important role in impeding Porphyromonas gingivalis' colonization on dental biofilm through inter-generic signaling systems.

Selected Publications

Xie, H, S. Cai, R. J. Lamont. 1997. Environmental regulation of fimbrial gene expression in Porphyromonas gingivalis. Infect. Immun. 65:313-316.
Xie, H., R. J. Lamont. 1999. Promoter architecture of the Porphyromonas gingivalis fimbrillin gene. Infect. Immun. 67:3227-323
Xie, H., W. O. Chung, Y. Park, R. J. Lamont. 2000. Regulation of the Porphyromonas gingivalis fimA (fimbrillin) gene. Infect. Immun. 68:6574-6579
Xie, H., G. Cook, J. W. Costerton, G. Bruce, T. M. Rose, R. J. Lamont. 2000. Intergeneric Communication in Dental Plaque Biofilms. J. Bact. 182:7067-7069
Xie, H., N. V. Kozlova, R. J. Lamont. 2004. Porphyromonas gingivalis genes involving in fimA regulation. Infect. Immun. 72:651-658

Xie, H., Belogortseva N. I., Wu J., Lai W.H., Chen C.H. 2006. Inhibition of HIV-1 entry by a binding domain of Porphyromonas gingivalis gingipain. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 50:3070-74
Lin, X. H., Wu, J., H. Xie. 2006. Porphyromonas gingivalis minor fimbriae are required for cell-cell interactions. Infect. Immun. 74:6011-6015

Wu, J., X. H. Lin, H. Xie. 2007. Porphyromonas gingivalis short fimbriae are regulated by a FimS/FimR two component system. FEMS Microbio Lett. 271:214-221

Park, Y., Xie, H., Lamont, R. 2007. Transcriptional organization of the Porphyromonas gingivalis fimA Locus. FEMS Microbio Lett. 273:103-108

Xie H., X. H. Lin, B. Wang, Wu, J., RJ Lamont. 2007. Identification of a signaling molecule involved in bacterial intergeneric communication. Microbiology 153:3228-3234

Wu, J., Lin, X. H., H. Xie. 2008. OxyR is involved in coordinate regulation of expression of fimA and sod genes in Porphyromonas gingivalis. FEMS Microbio Lett. 282:188-195
Lin, X. H., R. J. Lamont, Wu, J., H. Xie. 2008. Role of differential expression of streptococcal arginine deiminase in inhibition of fimA expression in Porphyromonas gingivalis. J. Bact. 190:4367-71.

Wang, B., Wu, J., Lamont, J. R., X. H. Lin, Xie H. 2009. Negative correlation of distribution of Streptococcus cristatus strains and Porphyromonas gingivalis in subgingival plaque. J. of Clin. Microbiology 47
Wu, J., Lin, X. H., H. Xie. 2009. Regulation of hemin binding proteins by a novel transcriptional activator in Porphyromonas gingivalis. J. Bact. 191:115-22