An association analysis for genetic factors for dental caries susceptibility in a cohort of Chinese children.

Objective: To comprehensively investigate the effects of 25 variants in 15 genes on dental caries susceptibility in a cohort of Chinese children.

Methods: A total of 25 variants in 15 genes were genotyped with MassARRAY iPLEX system and analyzed in 265 healthy controls and 254 children affected by dental caries with different dmft scores. The children with dental caries were stratified into "mild group" (scores from 1 to 3), "moderate group" (scores from 4 to 6), and "severe group" (scores from 7 to 14).

Results: The association analysis revealed that rs11362 of defensin β1 (DEFB1) was significantly associated with dental caries susceptibility (OR = 2.447, p = 1.165E-04). Furthermore, rs11362 was positively correlated with the severity of dental caries. For another selected variant of DEFB1, rs1799946 was significantly associated with dental caries susceptibility in the severe group (OR = 0.473, p = 3.70E-03) and also significant in the group consisted of moderate and severe subjects (OR = 0.623, p = .033). The results from logistic regression in additive, dominant, and recessive models also exhibited the similar patterns.

Conclusion: Out of 25 selected variants, only 2 of DEFB1 gene (rs11362 and rs1799946) were significantly associated with dental caries susceptibility in children.