biomolecules Article Exploring the Connection between Porphyromonas gingivalis and Neurodegenerative Diseases: A Pilot Quantitative Study on the Bacterium Abundance in Oral Cavity and the Amount of Antibodies in Serum Raffaella Franciotti 1 , Pamela Pignatelli 2 , Claudia Carrarini 1, Federica Maria Romei 2, Martina Mastrippolito 2, Antonella Gentile 2, Rosa Mancinelli 1, Stefania Fulle 1 , Adriano Piattelli 2,3,4, Marco Onofrj 1 and Maria Cristina Curia 2,* 1 Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, 66013 Chieti, Italy;
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[email protected] Citation: Franciotti, R.; Pignatelli, P.; Abstract: Recent studies support the hypothesis that microbes can seed some Alzheimer’s disease Carrarini, C.; Romei, F.M.; Mastrippolito, M.; Gentile, A.; (AD) cases, leading to inflammation and overproduction of amyloid peptides. Porphyromonas gin- Mancinelli, R.; Fulle, S.; Piattelli, A.; givalis (Pg) is a keystone pathogen of chronic periodontitis and has been identified as risk factor Onofrj, M.; et al.