Epigenome-wide association study for the identification of tobacco smoke effects on gingival methylation as a risk factor of periodontitis

• Applicant: Dr. Gesa Richter
• Subject Area: Dentistry, Oral Surgery
• Term: from 2016 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 318787709

Periodontitis (PD) is a complex chronic inflammatory disease of the supporting tissues of the teeth, with a prevalence rate of 11% for the most severe forms. The heritability of PD is estimated to be 50% and may in parts be attributed to epigenetic variability. Smoking is the most important environmental risk factor of PD and is strongly associated with differential methylation patterns in various tissues. Data of the methylation patterns of healthy and inflamed gingival tissues are lacking. To identify the effects of tobacco smoke on gingival methylation and to create reference datasets of the methylome of the healthy gingiva, we perform an epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) in gingival tissues of non-smokers and smokers. DNA from biopsies of uninflamed gingiva of 40 non-smokers and 40 smokers (more than 5 cigarettes per day for 5 years) are analyzed with Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChips on an iScan Array Scanner (Illumina). Potential functional effects of significant methylation differences are analyzed by genome-wide expression profiling of the same samples using HumanHT-12 v4.0 Expression BeadChips (Illumina). To create the further prerequisites of an EWAS on PD, genomic DNA and total RNA from healthy and inflamed gingiva and blood is collected of additional 120 healthy controls and 200 PD cases within a network of dental clinics that are specialized in periodontology and located at the Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Würzburg, Vienna (Austria) and Zürich (Switzerland).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Henrik Dommisch; Professor Dr. Arne Schäfer