Association of ENAM gene single nucleotide polymorphisms with dental caries in Polish children

Objectives: The objective of this study was to prove the association between dental caries and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the ENAM gene.

Material and methods: The research was carried out in 96 children (48 with caries and 48 counterparts free of this disease), aged 20-42 months, with 11-20 erupted teeth. All children were from four day nurseries located in Poznan. The study included the dental examination to select individuals to the research and oral swab collection for molecular evaluation. Seven selected SNPs markers of the ENAM gene were genotyped, five using TaqMan probe assay (rs2609428, rs7671281, rs36064169, rs3796704, and rs12640848) and two by Sanger sequencing (rs144929717 and rs139228330).

Results: Statistically significant higher prevalence of the alternative G allele and the alternative GG homozygote in the control group in comparison with the caries group in SNP rs12640848 was observed, respectively, p = 0.0062 and 0.0010. Although the prevalence of the AG heterozygote was higher for the caries subjects in comparison with controls (OR = 2.9), and the result was statistically significant (p = 0.0010), the overall prevalence of the G allele for this SNP was significantly higher in control group (OR = 2.3; p = 0.0062).

Conclusions: The study revealed the strong association between rs12640848 marker of ENAM gene and caries susceptibility in primary teeth in children from Poznan.

Clinical relevance: The presence of SNPs in the ENAM gene may be important as suspected predictive factor of dental caries occurrence in children.