When there's smoke there's ... CCN2

Smoking causes oral fibrosis. In a recent report, Takeuchi and colleagues (J Dent Res 89: 34-9, 2010) evaluate whether nicotine can directly elevate collagen production in gingival fibroblasts. They show that CCN2 (connective tissue growth factor, CTGF) is elevated in response to nicotine and that a neutralizing CCN2 antibody reduces the ability of nicotine to promote collagen production. These data suggest that nicotine from smoking may promote periodontal fibrosis via CCN2. This commentary summarizes these findings.