Salivary and Systemic Biomarkers of Periodontal Disease
1st Supervisor: Professor Francis Hughes
2nd Supervisor: Dr Mark Ide
Description of project
Our recent studies suggest that the salivary concentration of antimicrobial peptides and the presence of specific autoantibodies in serum may be specifically associated with the presence of Chronic or Aggressive Periodontitis. The aims of this project are to further investigate these observations to determine the use of these biomarkers for diagnosis of periodontitis, and to investigate if these biomarkers are associated with treatment outcomes in periodontitis.
Firstly, saliva and serum samples from patients with a variety of periodontal diagnoses will be collected and tested for presence of antimicrobial peptides and serum autoantibodies , in order to determine the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of this testing, both separately and combined. Secondly a cohort of patients will be sampled and following completion of initial periodontal therapy samples will be tested to determine if the expression of these biomarkers predicts response to treatment.
In addition samples will be analysed by SELDI-TOF mass spectrometry in order to investigate the presence and identity of additional biomarkers which may have diagnostic and prognostic value.
Additional biomarkers identified in this way will be identified by protein sequencing and validated by additional assay.
This project would particularly suit a dentally-qualified applicant wishing to utilise and apply state of the art proteomic techniques to address an important clinical question in periontology.
Duration of project: 3 years
Contact for further information
Professor Francis Hughes
Email: francis.hughes@kcl.ac.auk
Research Topic:Periodontology
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