Gene therapy can be used to fight against periodontal disease according to the scientists at University of Michigan who have studied the effect of gene therapy on periodontal disease (leading cause of tooth loss in adults).
The study has been published online on December 11 prior to the print publication in Gene Therapy.
Treating life threatening conditions with gene transfer is not a new concept, but using this gene transfer approach to treat chronic conditions such as periodontal disease is, says William Giannobile who is the professor at the University Of Michigan School Of Dentistry and the principal investigator of this study.
“Gene therapy has not been used in non-life threatening disease. (Periodontal disease) is more disabling than life threatening,” said Giannobile, who also directs the Michigan Center for Oral Health Research and has an appointment in the U-M College of Engineering.
“This is so important because the next wave of improving medical therapeutics goes beyond saving life, and moves forward to improving the quality of life.”
A biotechnology company named Targeted Genetics has released human trial results of the same gene therapy applied on rheumatoid arthritis which is another chronic disabling condition and the results have been positive. This study was carried on 127 human cases and showed a 30% improvement on average after the gene therapy.
Another important aspect to consider is that people who suffer form rheumatoid arthritis are four times more likely to suffer from periodontal disease. In fact, periodontal disease is also linked to other systemic diseases such as heart disease and stroke. This is attributed to the spread of bacteria from the mouth to other parts of the body.
The gene therapy works by using an inactivated virus to stimulate certain cells to produce a soluble TNF receptor. This is actually under produced in patients suffering from periodontitis.
By using gene therapy, the periodontal tissues were spared from destruction by more than 60-80%
Comments on this entry are closed.