Assessment of Apical Expression of Alpha-2 Integrin, Heat Shock Protein, and Proinflammatory and Immunoregulatory Cytokines in Response to Endodontic Infection.

•We show proinflammatory mediators decrease after root canal cleaning procedures 1 week after chemomechanical debridement.•We examine changes in the messenger RNA expression of the integrins SSP1/OPN and FAK as well as Hsp47/SERPINH1 and ITGA2 in samples from the periapical area.•The regulatory cytokine IL-10 was higher in samples from the second collection (after cleaning procedures) compared with the first collection.•The expression of the genes described here suggested an ongoing healing process after reduction of the bacterial load by root canal cleaning.