Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Nov:144:109908.
doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2020.109908. Epub 2020 May 30.

COVID-19 & Periodontitis: The cytokine connection

Vaibhav Sahni  1 , Shipra Gupta  2
Affiliations

COVID-19 & Periodontitis: The cytokine connection

Vaibhav Sahni et al. Med Hypotheses. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

COVID-19 is now recognized as a pandemic throughout the world, leading to a scramble in order to gather knowledge as well as evidence regarding the 'novel' corona virus which causes this disease. Chemokines are a family of cytokines which are chemotactic in nature and cause the recruitment of cells of inflammation. Periodontitis has long been attributed to having its pathophysiology rooted in a cytokine response. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has been reported to have adverse outcomes related to the establishment of a cytokine storm, many of the components of which are common with the cytokine expression profile of periodontitis. This communication explores the connection between COVID-19 and periodontal disease through their cytokine connection to form a translational basis for recommending maintenance of oral hygiene in the COVID era and to red flag patients with periodontitis as having an increased risk of exhibiting COVID related adverse outcomes.

Keywords: Dentistry; Immunology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

References

    1. Wu D., Yang X.O. TH17 responses in cytokine storm of COVID-19: An emerging target of JAK2 inhibitor Fedratinib. J Microbiol Immunol Infect. 2020 doi: 10.1016/j.jmii.2020.03.005. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Graves D. Cytokines that promote periodontal tissue destruction. J Periodontol. 2008;79:1585–1591. - PubMed
    1. Cheng W.-C., Hughes F.J., Taams L.S. The presence, function and regulation of IL-17 and Th17 cells in periodontitis. J Clin Periodontol. 2014;41:541–549. - PubMed