An aMMP-8 Point-of-Care and Questionnaire Based Real-Time Diagnostic Toolkit for Medical Practitioners

Area of Science:

• Periodontology
• Biomarker Discovery
• Diagnostic Strategies

Background:

• Periodontitis is a prevalent oral disease often asymptomatic in early stages.
• Early identification of periodontitis is crucial for timely intervention and prevention of severe outcomes.
• Current diagnostic methods may miss asymptomatic cases, necessitating improved screening tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an efficient strategy for identifying undiagnosed periodontitis in medical settings.
• To assess the diagnostic precision of oral fluid biomarkers combined with a risk factor questionnaire.
• To compare the efficacy of different biomarkers and a questionnaire alone for periodontitis detection.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 149 Greek patients.
• Analysis of oral fluid biomarkers: active matrix metalloproteinase (aMMP)-8, total MMP-8, active MMP-9, total MMP-9, and calprotectin.
• Utilized point-of-care (PoC) immunotest, ELISAs, and gelatin zymography for biomarker analysis.
• Patients underwent oral health examinations and completed a risk factor questionnaire.

Main Results:

• Oral fluid biomarkers combined with a questionnaire demonstrated superior diagnostic precision compared to a questionnaire alone.
• Active MMP-8 (aMMP-8) showed high diagnostic accuracy (AUC = 0.834) when used adjunctively.
• Other biomarkers like total MMP-8, active MMP-9, total MMP-9, and calprotectin also showed promising results.

Conclusions:

• Oral fluid biomarker analysis, especially rapid aMMP-8 PoC tests, can significantly enhance the precision of identifying undiagnosed periodontitis.
• This biomarker-assisted strategy is a viable tool for medical professionals to refer patients for dental assessment.
• The proposed method aids in the timely detection of asymptomatic periodontitis, facilitating earlier treatment.