Microbial and host interactions in diabetic periodontal disease.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating human host-microbiome interactions in periodontitis in type 2 diabetes.
IRAS ID
212151
Contact name
D. Valerie Clerehugh
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 30 days
Research summary
Periodontitis is characterised by receding gums, pain and the destruction of tissue and bone that can lead to tooth loss. Diabetics are at an increased risk of periodontitis. A wide spectrum of microbes live within the mouth, including commensal microbes that do no damage and may offer protection against pathogenic species that do cause disease. Although some particular disease associated microbes have been linked with periodontitis, the picture is incomplete. The immune system detects and responds to microbes in an attempt to eradicate or control their numbers. Our immune system can cause damage to our own tissues if not adequately controlled. Tissue damage in periodontitis is likely to occur as a result of both microbial activity and host immune responses to it.
The human and oral microbiome interactions may also be affected by perturbations in the oral environment caused by other existing conditions. Hyperglycaemia, which occurs in diabetes, is known to cause changes throughout the body, including biochemically altering tissues and systemically increasing inflammatory status. Such changes to the environment within the oral cavity could disrupt the microbial growth, altering the species present or their activity and could exacerbate periodontal disease as both diseases have inflammatory components. Likewise, the effects of periodontitis are not limited to the mouth but can be detected elsewhere in the body for example some components of the immune system are raised in the blood stream of patients with periodontitis. Such findings have contributed to the suggestions that the links between these two diseases are due to a two way relationship.
This project aims to optimise the laboratory techniques required to analyse samples of plaque, oral fluids and blood to produce comprehensive profiles of the of oral microbes present and human immune repsonses to them that occur in periodontitis in diabetes.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/YH/0357
Date of REC Opinion
30 Aug 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion