Open Access

ARTICLE

Comparison of inflammatory microRNA expression in healthy and periodontitis tissues

YOUNG HWA LEE¹, HEE SAM NA¹ , SO YEON JEONG¹, SUNG HEE JEONG² , HAE RYOUN PARK³ , JIN CHUNG^1*

1. Department of Oral Microbiology, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Yangsan 626-870, Korea.
2. Departmet of Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Yangsan 626-870, Korea.
3. Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Yangsan 626-870, Korea.

*Address correspondence to: Jin Chung. Department of Oral Microbiology, School of Dentistry, Pusan National University, Yangsan 626-870, Korea. E-mail:

BIOCELL 2011, 35(2), 43-50. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2011.35.043

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short RNA molecules that negatively regulate gene expression primarily by degrading target mRNA or inhibit the translation of protein product. Recently, many reports have shown the altered miRNA expression in various diseases. However, there are no reports on miRNA expression related to periodontitis. Thus, this study aimed to compare the miRNAs differentially expressed in healthy and chronic periodontitis tissues and to determine the miRNAs closely associated with chronic periodontitis. To find out the miRNAs differentially induced in healthy and chronic periodontitis tissues, miRNA microarray was carried out and the expression of miRNAs was confirmed by real-time PCR. According to miRNA microarray analyses, six miRNA genes, let-7a, let-7c, miR-130a, miR301a, miR-520d, and miR- 548a, were up-regulated more than 8 fold compared to the healthy gingiva. The expression of twenty-two miRNAs was increased more than 4 fold. Among these miRNAs, eight miRNAs which are known to be closely related to inflammation were selected. Six of these miRNA genes, miR-181b, miR-19b, miR-23a, miR-30a, miR-let7a, and miR-301a, were amplified successfully and increased much more in periodontitis gingivae than in healthy ones. In summary, this study indicate that six miRNAs up-regulated in periodontitis gingiva may play a key role in chronic periodontitis.

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