Aim: Periodontal diseases entail a variety of conditions affecting the periodontium. The pathogenesis results from a complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Although there are evidences to confirm a role of genetic determinants, the outcome of the available studies is controversial and the largest part of the research has been carried out in Asian populations.
Methods: We investigated two polymorphisms in the genes encoding Interelukin-1β (IL-1β +3953 C>T; rs1143634) and vitamin D receptor (VDR Taq1; rs731236) in 42 Caucasian patients with chronic periodontal disease and 39 Caucasian subjects, matched for age and gender.
Results: The IL-1β C allele was present in 100% of cases and 92% of controls (p=0.07), the T allele was present in 19% of cases and in 44% controls (p=0.017). The prevalence of the VDR Taq1 tt genotype was lower in patients as compared with controls (i.e., 10 versus 59%; p<0.01), whereas the tT and TT genotypes were disproportionally higher in patients than in cases (i.e., 62 versus 33% for tT and 29% versus 8% for TT; p<0.01). The t allele was present in 71% of cases and 92% of controls (p=0.016), whereas the T allele was present in 90% of patients with periodontal disease and in 41% controls (p<0.01).
Conclusion: The results of this case control study at-test that the T allele of VDR Taq1 is strongly associated with periodontal disease, whereas the t allele of the IL-1β +3953 confers a slightly protection against the risk of periodontitis.
Keywords: gene expression; genetics; interleukins; periodontal diseases; periodontitis.