Subject(s)
Gingivitis/immunology , Interleukin-18/immunology , Interleukin-1/immunology , Animals , Disease Progression , Gene Expression Regulation/immunology , Humans , Interleukin-1/metabolism , Interleukin-18/metabolism , Matrix Metalloproteinases/metabolism , Receptors, Interleukin-1/antagonists & inhibitorsABSTRACT
Analyses of cytokines mediating inflammatory reactions are key to understanding the etiopathology of various diseases. This study investigated differences in cytokine gene expression between pulps from healthy virgin teeth and from symptomatic vital teeth with severe caries lesions in a group of young, healthy individuals. The mRNA levels of IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-18 were measured concomitantly by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. IL-1alpha and IL-1beta were not expressed at significantly higher levels in symptomatic versus clinically healthy pulps, while the difference was significant for the other cytokines (log-rank test, P<0.05). A concordance test for independence revealed significant correlation between IL-1alpha and IL-1beta, and between IL-6, IL-8, and IL-18 mRNA levels (P<0.05). The cytokine-specific differences revealed a differential significance of gene expression in cytokine regulation. The hypothesis that increase of cytokine mRNA expression is part of host reaction in pulpitis was corroborated by our observation.
Subject(s)
Cytokines/genetics , Gene Expression Regulation , Pulpitis/genetics , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Dental Pulp/metabolism , Female , Humans , Male , RNA, Messenger/genetics , RNA, Messenger/metabolism , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain ReactionABSTRACT
Health sciences research is experiencing dramatic progress. How can dental schools throughout the world best make these research advances relevant for dental students, as well as providing them with the means to assess and utilize the research advances that will occur in the future? This complex question presents a critical challenge to the dental educational community. Research is clearly integral to the mission of dental education. By providing dental students with active learning strategies, dental educators can inculcate the ability for independent scientific thinking and thereby develop reflective as well as technically competent practitioners. However, there is a shortage of well-trained individuals to fill faculty and research positions in certain parts of the world. Global networks for mutual information exchange are imperative to overcome resource limitations in individual institutions, as is dedicated funding for research in the dental educational setting.
