ACCELERATING TOOTH REMINERALISATION AND BONE REGENERATION WITH SELF-ASSEMBLING PEPTIDES AND AMORPHOUS CALCIUM PHOSPHATE

The present invention relates to the field of medicinal tissue mineralisation, in particular, i.e. tooth remineralisation and bone regeneration with self-assembling peptides. Use of self-assembling peptides, such as P11-4, also designated Oligopeptide-104, in these processes leads to generation of hydroxyapatite, which is also present in natural enamel, dentin and bone. The inventors have discovered that both tooth remineralisation and bone regeneration can be significantly accelerated by adding amorphous calcium phosphate or calcium and phosphate ions that, when mixed in solution, can lead to immediate precipitation of calcium phosphate, preferably, amorphous, i.e., non-crystalline calcium phosphate. The presence of self-assembling peptide however changes the structure of the precipitated calcium phosphate, and advantageously induces crystallisation and a synergistic accelerated formation of crystalline calcium phosphate, in particular, hydroxyapatite (HA). The invention thus provides a kit comprising, a self-assembling peptide and either calcium and phosphate ions in separate compositions suitable for immediately forming calcium phosphate precipitates, e.g., amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP), if the compositions are mixed in the presence of water, or calcium phosphate particles, preferably, in the form of a suspension of calcium phosphate particles comprising at least 50% ACP. The invention also provides medical use of said kit, in particular, for in the tooth for remineralisation of lesions, mineralisation of pits and fissures, pulp capping, and for bone regeneration.