INSTEP
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An Innovative molecular-diagNostic tool using Saliva To diagnosE Periodontitis (INSTEP)
IRAS ID
318271
Contact name
Francesco D'Aiuto
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
CircaGene
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
Disturbed oral-microbiome is the main cause of gum diseases (Zarco & Ginsburg, 2011). Gum diseases are the 11th most-prevalent and fairly expensive conditions to treat (Nazir et al., 2020). A US report showed that ~50% of 30+ year olds have some forms of gum disease, which increases to over 70% for over 65s (Eke, 2012). At the global level, gum diseases affect between 20% - 50% of the population, 3.5 billion people , amounting to a cost of $54 billion / year. Periodontitis (gum disease) is an inflammatory disease of the gums resulting in the bone loss around teeth which ends with the loss of teeth themselves. Gum diseases (i.e. periodontitis) are the result of gum inflammation to a disturbed dental plaque/microbiome (i.e. it’s bacterial composition, bacterial load and metabolite composition) (Cekici et al., 2014).
Long-term management of periodontitis can be costly, leading to productivity losses and significantly lower quality of life for patients (Schwendicke et al., 2020).
Human saliva carries an abundance of information about our microbiome and oral health status. Understanding the complexities of oral microbiome can further our knowledge about periodontitis progression and its’ causes as well as helping us develop diagnostics for a quick and accurate disease diagnosis (Liu et al., 2012).
The aim of this study is to better understand the bacterial and metabolite composition and shifts occurring in oral microbiome of saliva in participants with periodontitis versus healthy individuals.
Saliva from healthy individuals and participants with periodontitis will be analysed for bacterial composition using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metabolite composition using NMR metabolomics.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/EE/0281
Date of REC Opinion
13 Dec 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion