Effect of BMP-2 on Gene Expression of Enamel Matrix Proteins at the Dental Epithelial Cell Line

Epithelial-mesenchymal interactions play an important role in the control of ameloblasts and odentoblasts differentiation, and the bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are known factors that regulate the differentiation of ameloblasts. We examined the effect of BMP-2 on the expression of the enamel matrix protein genes at the dental epithelial cell line. BMP-2 induced a 3- to 4-fold increase in amelogenin and ameloblastin mRNA expression, suggesting that BMP-2 is important for ameloblast differentiation. This finding has potential application in the tissue engineering of tooth re-constructions.