Marker of gingival epithelial cell aging in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Abstract

Shortening of periodontal telomere length can be not only a factor of physiological aging, but also be a marker of the adverse effects of non‑alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
 Objective — to study the changes in periodontal status in patients with non‑alcoholic fatty liver disease.
 Materials and methods. 76 patients with non‑alcoholic fatty liver disease and 14 somatically healthy patients were selected. Questioning of patients, dental examination with determination of indexes, qPCR studies from scraping from the surface of the attached gum with disposable applicators were carried out.
 Results. Periodontal diseases in patients with NAFLD had an inflammatory nature of different clinical and morphological forms and were represented mainly by chronic generalized periodontitis. The length of telomeres was significantly shorter in patients with NAFLD compared with the respondents in the control group. A negative average strength relationship was found between telomere length and chronic generalized periodontitis (r = –0.590, p = 0.002), the presence of NAFLD (r = –0.506, p = 0.045), body mass index (r = –0.3068, p = 0.031), level of aspartate aminotransferase (r = –0.286, p = 0.017).
 Conclusions. Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress in the periodontal tissues in NAFLD contribute to premature cellular aging and shorten the telomere length of gingival epithelial cells. High body mass index is negatively correlated with telomere length, which also confirms premature cellular aging in patients with NAFLD.