Micó-Martínez Pablo, Almiñana-Pastor Pedro J, Alpiste-Illueca Francisco, López-Roldán Andrés
Department of Stomatology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
J Periodontal Implant Sci. 2021 Dec;51(6):386-397. doi: 10.5051/jpis.2007540377.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are epigenetic post-transcriptional regulators that modulate gene expression and have been identified as biomarkers for several diseases, including cancer. This study aimed to systematically review the relationship between miRNAs and periodontal disease in humans, and to evaluate the potential of miRNAs as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of disease.
The review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines (reference number CRD42020180683). The MEDLINE, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, and SciELO databases were searched for clinical studies conducted in humans investigating periodontal diseases and miRNAs. Expression levels of miRNAs across the different groups were analysed using the collected data.
A total of 1,299 references were identified in the initial literature search, and 23 articles were finally included in the review. The study designs were heterogeneous, which prevented a meta-analysis of the data. Most of the studies compared miRNA expression levels between patients with periodontitis and healthy controls. The most widely researched miRNA in periodontal diseases was miR-146a. Most studies reported higher expression levels of miR-146a in patients with periodontitis than in healthy controls. In addition, many studies also focused on identifying target genes of the differentially expressed miRNAs that were significantly related to periodontal inflammation.
The results of the studies that we analysed are promising, but diagnostic tests are needed to confirm the use of miRNAs as biomarkers to monitor and aid in the early diagnosis of periodontitis in clinical practice.
微小RNA（miRNA）是表观遗传的转录后调节因子，可调节基因表达，已被确定为包括癌症在内的多种疾病的生物标志物。本研究旨在系统综述miRNA与人类牙周疾病之间的关系，并评估miRNA作为疾病诊断和预后生物标志物的潜力。
本综述按照系统评价和Meta分析的首选报告项目指南（注册号CRD42020180683）进行。检索MEDLINE、Scopus、Cochrane图书馆、Embase、科学网和SciELO数据库，查找在人类中进行的关于牙周疾病和miRNA的临床研究。使用收集的数据分析不同组中miRNA的表达水平。
在初步文献检索中总共识别出1299篇参考文献，最终23篇文章纳入本综述。研究设计具有异质性，这使得无法对数据进行Meta分析。大多数研究比较了牙周炎患者和健康对照之间的miRNA表达水平。牙周疾病中研究最广泛的miRNA是miR-146a。大多数研究报告牙周炎患者中miR-146a的表达水平高于健康对照。此外，许多研究还专注于鉴定与牙周炎症显著相关的差异表达miRNA的靶基因。
我们分析的研究结果很有前景，但需要进行诊断测试，以确认在临床实践中使用miRNA作为生物标志物来监测和辅助牙周炎的早期诊断。
