Association of IL-6 -174 G/C and TNF-α - 308 G/A polymorphisms with periodontitis in patients undergoing hemodialysis

Objective: To correlate the presence and severity of periodontal disease with the genetic polymorphisms IL-6 -174 G/C and TNF-α -308 G/A in patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis. Background Periodontal problems modify systemic health and may worsen morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted, which evaluated a group of patients who were undergoing hemodialysis (case group) and a control group of patients with chronic kidney disease. Periodontal diagnosis was established by assessing the probing depth, bleeding, and clinical attachment loss and diagnosing the degree, stage, and location of the periodontitis. Nucleotide polymorphisms were genotyped by allelic discrimination using real-time PCR. Results We evaluated 84 patients (case: n = 43; control: n = 41), of whom 54.7% were women, with a mean age of 46.6 ± 12 years. No statistically significant differences were observed in the presence of periodontal disease between the case (76.7%) and control (73.2%) groups. Periodontal disease stage (p = 0.655), degree (p = 0.512), and location (p = 0.904) showed no statistically significant differences between the two groups or in comparison to the allelic and genotypic distributions of IL-6 and TNF-α. In categorizing patients according to the stage of periodontitis, statistically significant results were obtained in the hemodialysis group, which suggests that the GG genotype and absence of the C allele relate to greater periodontal destruction. Conclusion Allele C has a protective effect on the severity of periodontal disease in patients undergoing hemodialysis.