OHIO SUPERCOMPUTER CENTER CLIENT RESEARCH PERIODONTAL DISEASE Kumar, colleagues uncover connection between smoking, periodontal risk

Fifty years after the surgeon general first reported on the harmful effects of tobacco, medical professionals continue to find more links between smoking and disease.

Recently, Purnima Kumar, an associate professor of Periodontology at The Ohio State University College of Dentistry,

and her colleagues discovered a compelling cause-and-effect Unclassified Carnobacteriaceae

Unclassified Lactobacillales

Granulicatella adiacens

Enterococcus mundtii

Enterococcus avium Unclassified Gemellales Unclassified Streptococcaceae relationship between smoking and periodontal disease. Granulicatella spp. Abiotrophia morbi ginsengihumi Abiotrophia spp.

Bacillus coagulans Unclassified Bacillales Bacillus horneckiae

Bacillus asahii devriesei Streptococcus ursoris Bacillus spp. Streptococcus ratti Streptococcus macacae

Streptococcus ferus

Streptococcus mutans

Lactobacillus agilis Lactobacillus Enterococcus dispar Enterococcus Lactobacillus hayakitensis

Streptococcus dentirousetti asini Enterococcus Lactobacillus salivarius

Enterococcus sulfureus Enterococcus Lactobacillus manihotivorans

Enterococcus italicus Enterococcus Lactobacillus zeae

Enterococcus spp. Enterococcus Lactobacillus oligofermentans

Enterococcus faecium Enterococcus Lactobacillus suebicus Enterococcus Streptococcus criceti Streptococcus massiliensisStreptococcus downei Streptococcus sobrinus By combining advanced computational techniques and a StreptococcusStreptococcus intermedius anginosus Streptococcus constellatus

Streptococcus halichoeri Streptococcus dysgalactiae Unclassified Gemellaceae Unclassified Coriobacteriales sanguinis Streptococcus canis Gemella haemolysans novel scientific query, Kumar’s research clarified the unusual Streptococcus parauberis Streptococcus pseudoporcinus Unclassified spp. Streptococcus didelphis Streptococcus equi Staphylococcus haemolyticus Staphylococcus pettenkoferi composition of a smoker’s biofilm, a collection of in the StreptococcusStreptococcus castoreus uberis Streptococcus phocae Bulleidia spp. StreptococcusStreptococcusStreptococcus macedonicus gallolyticus luteciae Bulleidia moorei Bulleidia extructa Streptococcus alactolyticus Mycoplasma spp. Mycoplasma orale

Streptococcus henryi oral cavity that forms on moist surfaces in the body, including Fusobacterium spp. StreptococcusStreptococcus thermophilus caballi Streptococcus spp. Streptococcus salivarius StreptococcusStreptococcus marimammalium thoraltensis

teeth and the spaces between teeth and gums. She also clarifies Streptococcus oligofermentans Streptococcus sinensis Unclassified Leptotrichiaceae Streptococcus parasanguinis

Streptococcus gordonii how the body recognizes and interacts with the novel bacteria. Streptococcus cristatus Streptococcus pseudopneumoniaeStreptococcus infantis Streptococcus oralis Unclassified Bifidobacteriales

Streptococcus australis Kumar found that under their gingiva, smokers had many Streptococcus sanguinis Streptococcus suis StreptococcusStreptococcus gallinaceus minor species that doctors did not know could be found in the oral Streptococcus hyointestinalis cavity, and several species were systemic pathogens that usually cause diseases elsewhere in the body. “We know that smoking increases your risk of getting severe periodontal disease and oral cancer,” Kumar said. “Since bacteria outnumber human cells in our bodies by 10 to 1, and play such an important role in keeping us healthy, our research explores the ways that smoking can change the bacteria in the biofilm, from the moment they are acquired until the time the

Unclassified Ruminococcaceae tooth is lost to disease.” Unclassified Clostridia As part of the initial research, the team investigated DNA and RNA sequences to identify the bacteria and learn what genes they express to survive and cause disease. The Ohio Supercomputer Center provided the computing power needed Peptococcus spp. to analyze these immense datasets of molecular information.

Kumar is building on these preliminary investigations by Treponema spp.

TG5 spp. combining large-scale clinical study designs with open-ended, as SHD-231 spp. well as targeted, molecular approaches. This will bridge the gap between purely clinical studies and in vitro experiments, both of which have limited abilities to replicate disease in humans. Patient samples will be processed for whole-cell genomic data using next generation shotgun sequencing and analyzed using a variety of computationally intensive tools. Ultimately, the results of this study will provide a timetable for administering periodontal therapy following smoking cessation. “We have to be very aggressive in treating patients who smoke,” Kumar added. “We need to see them more often Above: To better understand the impact of smoking and watch their periodontal tissue because they are high-risk on gum disease, Kumar conducted DNA and RNA individuals for periodontal disease. That’s the message we sequence analysis at the Ohio Supercomputer Center. carry to clinicians – these are our most vulnerable patients.” These graphics illustrate the results.

Project Lead: Purnima Kumar, Ph.D., The Ohio State University Research Title: Tobacco smoking and perturbations in the subgingival microbial ecosystem Funding Source: National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, R01DE022579 Website: dent.osu.edu/perio/research_kumar.php