Heart and Gum Disease

An interesting article from PLOS Genetics, one that ties two of the most common inflammatory chronic disease together.

Identification of a Shared Genetic Susceptibility Locus for Coronary Heart Disease and Periodontitis

Summary

Coronary heart disease (CHD) and periodontitis are the most widespread diseases in the Western industrialized world and pose a substantial health threat to populations worldwide. CHD is a leading cause for premature death, and periodontitis is the major cause for tooth loss in adults over 40 years. Both diseases are associated with similar risk factors such as smoking, diabetes, and gender, and both diseases are further characterized by a chronic inflammatory process. In the last year, several genome studies have identified a region of the human genome near the CDKN2A and CDKN2B genes as having an influence on CHD. We show that this genetic region, being the most important susceptibility locus for CHD to date, is also associated with a substantial risk increase of aggressive periodontitis. The associated genetic region maps to a genomic region that codes for an “antisense RNA,” which partly overlaps regulatory and coding sequences of genes CDKN2A/CDKN2B. The interplay between these common inflammatory complex diseases could be partially due to the shared genetic risk variants of this antisense RNA.

Schaefer AS, Richter GM, Groessner-Schreiber B, Noack B, Nothnagel M, et al. (2009) Identification of a Shared Genetic Susceptibility Locus for Coronary Heart Disease and Periodontitis. PLoS Genet 5(2): e1000378. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000378