Background and objective: Periodontitis is a multifactorial disease in which environmental and genetic determinant factors contribute to individual subjects susceptibility. A DNA polymorphism in the regulating region of adhesion molecule genes is suggested to modulate the molecules physiological effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic association between the E-selectin Ser128Arg and L-selectin Phe206Leu polymorphisms and periodontitis.
Material and methods: DNA was isolated from the whole blood of 88 patients with periodontitis and 139 healthy individuals. All samples were genotyped for the E-selectin Ser128Arg and L-selectin Phe206Leu polymorphisms using the polymerase chain reaction with sequence specific primers.
Results: Our findings revealed a significant difference in the Ser128Arg polymorphism of E-selectin, but not in the L-selectin polymorphism, between periodontal patients and controls. The 128Arg allele was present more frequently in patients than in healthy individuals (31.25% vs. 12.2%, p < 0.0001). In addition, there was an association between the presence of the 128Arg allele and periodontitis (odds ratio 2.9; 95% confidence interval: 1.75-4.4, p < 0.0001). No significant association was found between the polymorphisms tested and the subgroups of periodontal disease (i.e. chronic periodontitis and aggressive periodontitis).
Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that the Ser128Arg polymorphism of E-selectin might contribute to the susceptibility of Iranian individuals to periodontitis.