Immunoreactive pattern of Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm against human whole saliva.

Saliva is essential to interact with microorganisms in the oral cavity. Therefore, the interest in saliva antimicrobial properties is on the rise. Here, we used an immunoproteomic approach, based on protein separation of Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms by 2DE, followed by Western-blotting, to compare human serum and saliva reactivity profile. A total of 17 proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF. Serum and saliva presented a distinct pattern of immunoreactive proteins. Our results suggest that saliva seems to have higher propensity to react against S. epidermidis proteins with oxidoreductase activity and proteins involved with L-serine metabolic processes. We show that saliva was a powerful tool for the identification of potential S. epidermidis biofilms proteins.