Gene variants for the WNT pathway are associated with severity in periodontal disease

• Published in: Clinical oral investigations Vol. 28; no. 2; p. 135
• Main Authors: Ospina-Ch, María-Victoria, Acevedo-Godoy, Mónica, Perdomo, Sandra J., Chila-Moreno, Lorena, Lafaurie, Gloria I., Romero-Sánchez, Consuelo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 06-02-2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bone loss; Bone resorption; Dentistry; Gene frequency; Gene polymorphism; Genetic diversity; Gum disease; Humans; Inflammation; LRP5 protein; Medicine; Periodontal Diseases; Periodontics; Periodontitis; Periodontitis - genetics; Polymorphism; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Serology; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; SOST protein; Wnt protein; Wnt Signaling Pathway - genetics; Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs); Periodontal disease; Wnt; Polymorphism
• ISSN: 1436-3771; 1432-6981; 1436-3771
• DOI: 10.1007/s00784-023-05436-x

Objective
Studies of Wnt variants-related to bone resorption in periodontitis are limited. The aim of this study was to establish the genotype and allele frequency of gene variants associated with the Wnt pathway in systemically healthy individuals with and without periodontitis (PD).
Materials and methods
One hundred fifty-seven systemically healthy individuals were evaluated, 90 with PD and 67 without PD. Periodontal clinical indexes, serological and clinical indices of inflammation, and the following variants associated with the Wnt pathway: DKK, SOST, LRP5, and KREMEN were analyzed by high resolution melting and confirmed by Sanger sequencing.
Results
In the PD-free group, 67.2% of the individuals presented the variant for DKKrs1896367 (p = 0.008) and 82.6% had the variant for KREMEN rs132274 (p = 0.016). The heterozygous variant for the DKK rs1896367 polymorphism was associated with the absence of PD and lower severity OR: 0.33 (CI95% 0.15–0.70) and OR: 0.24 (CI95% 0.11–0.53), respectively. Similarly, KREMEN rs132274 was the homozygous variant associated with the absence of PD (OR: 0.33 (CI95% 0.13–0.88)). On the contrary, 85.6% of individuals with PD presented a variant for DKK rs1896368 (p = 0.042), all suffering severe forms of periodontitis.
Conclusion
The presence of DKKrs1896367 and KREMENrs132274 variants in individuals without PD suggests that these single nucleotide polymorphisms could be protective factors for bone loss in PD. A very interesting finding is that the DKKrs1896368 variant was found in a high percentage of severe cases, suggesting that the presence of this variant may be related to the severe bone loss observed in PD.