title: Oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, and telomere length in patients with periodontitis.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in individuals with periodontitis and controls, exploring its relationship with systemic inflammation and oxidative stress. Five hundred sixty-three participants were recruited for this case-control study: 356 subjects with and 207 subjects without periodontitis. LTL was measured by a qPCR technique from leukocytes' DNA. Global measures of oxidative stress (reactive oxygen metabolites) and biological antioxidant potential in plasma were performed together with high-sensitivity assays for C-reactive protein (CRP). Leukocyte counts and lipid profiles were performed using standard biochemistry. Cases had higher levels of CRP (2.1±3.7mg/L vs 1.3±5.4mg/L, P<0.001) and reactive oxygen metabolites (378.1±121.1 U Carr vs 277.4±108.6 U Carr, P<0.001) compared to controls. Overall, cases had shorter LTL with respect to controls (1.23±0.42 vs 1.12±0.31T/S ratio, P=0.006), independent of age, gender, ethnicity, and smoking habit. When divided by subgroup of periodontal diagnosis (chronic, n=285; aggressive, n=71), only chronic cases displayed shorter LTL (P=0.01). LTL was negatively correlated with age (P=0.001; R=-0.2), oxidative stress (P=0.008; R=-0.2), and severity of periodontitis (P=0.003; R=-0.2) in both the whole population and the subgroups (cases and controls). We conclude that shorter telomere lengths are associated with a diagnosis of periodontitis and their measures correlate with the oxidative stress and severity of disease.
authors.affiliation: Vascular Physiology Unit, Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Masi
authors.forename: Klelia D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Salpea
authors.forename: KaWa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parkar
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nibali
authors.forename: Nikos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Donos
authors.forename: Kalpesh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taddei
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Deanfield
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: D'Aiuto
authors.forename: Steve E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Humphries
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000032:analysis; D016615:Telomere / Q000648:ultrastructure*
chemical_list: D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D002097:C-Reactive Protein