Association of the CASP3 rs4647602 Gene Polymorphism with Periodontitis in South Indians of Tamil Ethnicity

Objective: Caspase-3 activation is central to apoptosis and is involved in periodontal disease pathogenesis. Thus, CASP3 gene polymorphisms in a population may influence the severity of periodontal disease. In this study we examined the association of the CASP3 rs4647602 alleles and genotypes with periodontitis using cohorts of periodontally diseased and healthy South Indian subjects of Tamil ethnicity. Materials and Methods: Allele specific polymerase chain reaction genotyping were performed to identify CASP3 rs4647602 gene polymorphism in 145 periodontally healthy subjects and 145 periodontitis patients. The associations between gene polymorphism frequencies and the risk of periodontitis were analyzed by the Pearson chi-square test, the Mann Whitney U test, t test, logistic regression and assessed by odds ratio (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (95% CIs). Results: The statistical test results demonstrated a significant difference in genotype distribution between the two groups (p < 0.001) with the variant GG genotype associated with a significantly increased risk for periodontitis (OR = 3.55, 95% CI = 1.89-6.68, p < 0.001). Furthermore, all clinical parameters were highly significantly correlated with the genotypes in periodontitis subjects (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The present study suggests that the rs4647602 GG genotype of CASP3 is associated with the increased periodontitis risk in South Indians of Tamil ethnicity. Clinical Trial Registration Number: (CTRI/2021/03/032412).