Objectives: Aggressive periodontitis is a complex, polygenic disease. To identify genes involved in aggressive periodontitis among European Caucasians, a substantial cohort of patients with a strong disease phenotype (index patients) needs to be recruited. Also, index patients plus both parents (trio's) are very useful for genetic screening. Both the candidate gene approach as well as genome wide screening can then be applied.

Methods: In October 2002 the European Periodontal Genetics (EPG) consortium has been founded. Since that time, patients with aggressive periodontitis, £35 years of age at the time of diagnosis and having ³2 teeth with ³50% bone loss on dental radiographs, are being recruited. If available, both parents are asked to participate. 10 ml venous blood is drawn and genomic DNA extracted: a DNA bank is constructed for genotyping purposes.

Results: To date, 270 index patients and 108 trio's are part of the EPG DNA bank. Samples have been submitted from Germany, The Netherlands and Norway. For the patients, the following phenotypic characteristics are known: mean age 31.1 ± 3.6 years; 29% male, 71% female; 61% smokers, 14% former smokers and 25% non-smokers; 27% of patients have 2 teeth with ³50% bone loss, 37% of patients have 3-6 teeth with ³50% bone loss, and 37% of the patients have ³7 teeth with ³50% bone loss. Preliminary results on genotyping for 4 candidate genes are presented separately. Genome wide screening will be started when at least 600 index patients and/or 300 trios have been recruited; only then meaningful bioinformatic data can be obtained.

Conclusions: An ambitious and strong start has been made through the founding of the EGP consortium for the hunt into genes involved in aggressive periodontitis. The EPG consortium invites additional European partners to participate in this initiative.

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