Vitamin D receptor alleles, periodontal disease progression, and tooth loss in the VA dental longitudinal study.
BACKGROUND
The relationship between the vitamin D receptor (VDR) genotype and periodontal disease is not known. This study compared periodontal disease progression among polymorphisms of 2 VDR genes in men in the VA Dental Longitudinal Study.


METHODS
Subjects were 125 medically healthy, middle-aged men who had serial oral examinations over a mean 23-year period. Probing depth, gingival bleeding on probing, clinical attachment loss (CAL), and alveolar bone loss (ABL) from radiographs were measured at each examination. Progression of periodontal disease was defined as the percentage of teeth per decade that increased ABL by > or = 40%, and the percentage of teeth per decade that developed CAL > or = 5 mm. ApaI and TaqI polymorphisms were determined from buffy coat cells following polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. Mean changes in oral status were adjusted for baseline values of smoking status, number of teeth present, and periodontal status by analysis of covariance.


RESULTS
Genotype distributions were 41 AA, 58 Aa, 26 aa; and 53 TT, 46 Tt, 26 tt. The AA genotype showed the highest rates of progression of ABL (5 +/- 1% versus 1 +/- 1% and 2 +/- 1% teeth in Aa and aa, respectively; P = 0.03), CAL (37 +/- 4% versus 17 +/- 4% and 27 +/- 6% teeth; P = 0.004), and tooth loss (2 +/- 0.3 versus 1 +/- 0.3 and 1 +/- 0.4 teeth; P = 0.04). When genotype combinations were examined, progression of ABL, CAL, and tooth loss was highest in the AATT and AATt genotypes.


CONCLUSIONS
The ApaI polymorphism of the VDR gene is associated with oral bone loss, clinical attachment loss, and tooth loss in older men. Analysis of the VDR alleles may prove useful for predicting periodontal disease.
Inagaki
Koji
K
Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research, Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA, USA. kojikun@dpc.aichi-gakuin.ac.jp
Krall
Elizabeth A
EA
Fleet
James C
JC
Garcia
Raul I
RI
D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss / Q000235:genetics*; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017622:Periodontal Attachment Loss / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol / Q000235:genetics*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000235:genetics*; D014728:Veterans
D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol