Genomic Determinants and Shared Genetic Pathways of Periodontal Disease

Despite significant improvement in treating periodontal disease (PD) and the identification of multiple risk factors, little is known about the specific contribution of genetics to PD pathogenesis. Several genomewide association studies (GWAS) of PD have been published, but only one reported locus has reached the threshold for genome-wide significance. Epidemiological studies and biological experiments established associations and suggested common pathogenetic pathways between PD and cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes (DM), and osteoporosis. The overall objective is to identify genetic loci for PD as a first step toward a better understanding of PD pathogenesis. In a preliminary study in the Women's Genome Health Study (WGHS), new-onset cases of PD were associated with a family history of myocardial infarction (MI). Further preliminary analyses presented shared phenotypic variation of PD/CVD, PD/DM, or PD/osteoporosis that could be accounted by the whole-genome genetic matrices. Several variants from the GWAS catalog of bone density and family history of MI were found correlated with PD in the WGHS. Based on these findings and the literature, the central hypothesis is that there are common pathogenetic links between PD and these other diseases and that GWAS using the comorbidity case definitions will help identify potential common loci.