Genetic predictors of periodontitis development: problems and prospects (a literature review)

Abstract

Relevance. Currently, researchers are actively searching for genetic markers of periodontitis. Their detection will allow identifying risk group patients long before the manifestation of the first signs of the disease, predicting the disease course and intensively carrying out preventive measures to eliminate negative environmental factors.Aim – to classify the available data on the genes associated with the development of aggressive and chronic generalized periodontitis.Materials and methods. We found 214 publications published from 2005 to 2020 in the electronic databases PubMed, Google Search and eLibrary. One hundred and thirty-five publications were selected, among which are clinical studies and meta-analysis data.Results. Chronic inflammatory diseases such as periodontitis are typically polygenic. The disease-associated genes are predisposition genes. The presence of an allele associated with the disease in an individual is not an absolute diagnostic sign for the development of the disease. However, it reflects the risk of disease development. The search for genetic markers of periodontitis assigns a crucial role to genes, which encode proteins significant at different stages of the pathogenesis of inflammatory periodontal diseases. Defensins, interleukins, Toll-like receptors, collagen type I α1 chain and others are among them. To date, the researchers have studied about 300 polymorphisms and have associated some of them with the development of periodontitis.Conclusion. The exact genetic marker of periodontitis is currently unknown. Further search for the candidate genes and additional knowledge of the pathogenesis of inflammatory periodontal diseases are necessary. Determining the disease predisposition will improve the quality of dental care and preventive measures even before the manifestation of the disease.