Transcription factor STAT1 gene polymorphism is associated with the development of severe forms of periodontal disease

Abstract

Periodontal disease (PD) is one of the most common inflammatory diseases, affecting about 10% of the world population. The establishment of PD is influenced by polymorphisms in genes involved with the inflammatory response. Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT)-1 is a transcription factor that plays a key role in the intracellular signaling triggered by cytokines and, thus, its activation is critical in inflammatory diseases. We aim to evaluate the occurrence of association between STAT-1 (rs3771300) polymorphism and distinct clinical forms and severity of PD; we genotyped 180 subjects using realtime PCR. We observed that the presence of the G allele for STAT-1 was associated with twice as high of a chance to develop aggressive periodontitis, and the most severe form of the disease.