VCU School of Dentistry earns major NIH grant

By Michael Ford
University News Services

RICHMOND, Va. – Researchers in Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Dentistry have earned a $4.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study genetic and immunologic risk factors for periodontal diseases. The five-year award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research will fund continuing study of rare periodontal diseases in teen-agers, young adults and adults.

The grant was awarded to investigators in the VCU Clinical Research Center for Periodontal Disease, directed by Harvey A. Schenkein, D.D.S., Ph.D.

Studies supported by the grant will be carried out by investigators from VCU’s Schools of Dentistry and Medicine, as well as NIH collaborators.

Investigators will study genetic risk factors for early-onset forms of periodontal diseases, a relatively uncommon but severe group of periodontal diseases that run in families. Studies also will examine abnormalities in the immune systems of these patients that may predispose them to oral infections. Additionally, investigators will research characteristics of oral bacteria, including what allows some bacteria to infect the gums, enter the bloodstream and travel to other body sites.

Schenkein, assistant dean for research and professor in the School of Dentistry, has studied early-onset periodontal disease since 1987, and VCU dental research extends more than 20 years. Schenkein and his colleagues published findings about a genetic link in early-onset periodontitis in the Journal of Periodontology in1994. That report followed a study involving 200 families from Maryland to South Carolina that found heredity seemed to make some family members unusually susceptible to a bacterial infection that triggers the onset of periodontal diseases.

"We study families. As part of the genetics projects, we’ve seen kids grow up and have their own kids," Schenkein said. "We’ve been collecting blood samples from these patients for 20 years or more and those are still used as part of these studies."

That research will provide a foundation for studies conducted under VCU’s new NIH grant.

"We’ll get to take advantage of the expertise the NIH has, and the NIH benefits because we have patients we’ve been studying here in Richmond," said Schenkein. "NIH researchers will have access to samples and clinical information from those patients. This is mutually advantageous to both groups."

Since 1988, investigators in the VCU Clinical Research Center for Periodontal Disease have published about 60 papers on genetic risk for periodontal diseases, immune function in periodontal diseases and bacterial infections. The center was founded in 1978.