Evidências da epigenética na doença periodontal

Abstract

Periodontitis is a multifactorial infection characterized by inflammation and destruction of tooth supporting tissues, as a result of the response of a susceptible host to bacterial challenge. Studies have demonstrated that epigenetic events are able to influence the production of cytokines,contributing to the development of inflammatory diseases. Epigenetic events act through the remodeling of chromatin and can selectively activate or inactivate genes, determining their expression. The epigenetic process, by inducing a change in cytokine profile, may subsequentlyinfluence the pathogenesis and determine the outcome of many infectious diseases. These findings may have relevance for inflammatory diseases in which the expression of cytokines is unregulated.The purpose of this review is to show evidence that support the hypothesis that epigenetic alterations, such as hyper and hypomethylation, mainly of cytokine genes, could help to understandthe mechanisms related to periodontal disease activity. Therefore, epigenetics may have future impact on diagnosis and/or therapeutics of periodontal disease.