Clinical application of genetics to guide prevention and treatment of oral diseases.
Dental care costs in the United States exceed $100 billion annually. Personalized medicine efforts in dentistry are driven by potentially compelling clinical utility and cost-effectiveness prospects in the major diseases of periodontitis, caries, and oral cancers. This review discusses progress and challenges identifying genetic markers and showing clinical utility in dentistry. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of chronic periodontitis (CP) identified no significant variants, but CDKN2BAS variants on chromosome 9 were significantly associated with aggressive periodontitis. Stratifying patients by interleukin (IL)-1 gene variants, smoking and diabetes differentiated CP prevention outcomes. Dental caries' GWAS identified significant signals in LYZL2, AJAp1, and KPNA4; and efforts are ongoing to identify genetic factors for multiple caries phenotypes. Trials of molecularly targeted therapies are in progress for oral, head, and neck squamous cell carcinomas (OHNSCC) and results have been promising but limited in their effectiveness. Current opportunities and challenges for molecular targeting for OHNSCC are discussed.
Department of R&D, Interleukin Genetics, Waltham, MA, USA.
K S
KS
Kornman
P J
PJ
Polverini
D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000628:therapy; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000235:genetics; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000235:genetics* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000235:genetics; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000628:therapy; D009113:Muramidase / Q000235:genetics; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000517:prevention & control; D057285:Precision Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000235:genetics; D028901:alpha Karyopherins / Q000235:genetics
C483313:AJAP1 protein, human; C561518:CDKN2B antisense RNA, human; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D005819:Genetic Markers; D007375:Interleukin-1; C106259:KPNA4 protein, human; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding; D028901:alpha Karyopherins; C507693:LYZL2 protein, human; D009113:Muramidase
caries; genetics; oral cancer; periodontitis