The 3D co-culture model is advantageous in that it takes interactions between gingival epithelial cells and fibroblasts into consideration. It has previously been shown that gingival fibroblasts stimulate the proliferation of keratinocytes, while keratinocytes induce the expression of specific fibroblast genes. Gron et al. reported that cultivating oral fibroblasts and keratinocytes together increases the secretion of keratinocyte and hepatocyte growth factors, thus modulating the proliferation and migration of the junctional epithelium. Interactions between gingival fibroblasts and epithelial cells were also observed in our study as evidenced by the fact that the amounts of IL-6 and IL-8 secreted by the LPS-stimulated 3D co-culture model are significantly higher than the amounts secreted by the individual cell lines. There has been growing interest in recent years in the synergistic antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory VE-822 properties of various compounds, more particularly because many diseases, including periodontitis, have a multifactorial etiology. During periodontitis, periodontopathogens activate the host inflammatory response, resulting in the secretion of pro-inflammatory mediators, which in turn modulate the destruction of tooth-supporting tissues. VE-821 Compounds such as AMPs that possess both antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties may be potential alternatives to antibiotics in adjunctive therapies for treating periodontitis. In addition to their antimicrobial properties, some AMPs can modulate the immune response and can bind directly to LPS, preventing the binding of LPS to the CD14 receptor and thus inhibiting the secretion of some pro-inflammatory cytokines. Some AMPs can also bind to LPS when it is already bound to macrophage receptors. While a wide variety of human AMPs have been identified, cathelicidins and defensins are the two most thoroughly characterized families. LL-37 is the only member of cathelicidin family present in humans and is produced by several cell types, including epithelial cells, monocytes, and natural killer cells.