You have full access to this open access article. Periodontitis PD can cause systematic inflammation and is associated with various metabolic processes in the body.
However, robust serum markers for these relationships are still lacking. This study aims to identify novel circulating inflammation-related proteins associated with PD using targeted proteomics. Associations between periodontal measures and proteins were tested using covariate-adjusted linear regression models. Our results suggest that these proteins might be affected by molecular processes that take place in the inflamed periodontium.
Periodontitis PD , as a complex multifactorial condition, is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide [ 1 ]. Dysbiotic plaque biofilm is the main component initializing the pathological processes. However, extent and progression are largely determined by host-specific features such as an exuberant inflammatory immune response [ 2 ].
Previous studies suggest that the relationship between inflammation and PD is in fact mutual with inflammation contributing to periodontal damage and periodontal damage inducing inflammation, a self-sustaining vicious cycle. It is precisely the persistent low-grade inflammation that is suspected to impair overall health [ 3 ]. This is primarily owed to the lack of appropriate serum biomarkers [ 6 ].
The concept of using serum proteins to individualize medicine is not new; measurement of C-reactive protein, for instance, has been used to assess inflammation since the protein was discovered nearly years ago [ 8 ]. But the potential of available methods has increased dramatically in the last decades [ 9 ]. The analysis can thus be specifically tailored to a system or tissue under investigation [ 10 ].
