Salivary epigenetic biomarkers as predictors of emerging childhood obesity

Using the Oragene saliva device, this study identified elevated CYP2C8 allele frequencies in a Saudi paediatric cohort compared to other Asian populations, suggesting potential variability in ibuprofen metabolism and drug response.

Pediatric pharmacogenetics: profiling CYP2C8 polymorphisms at King Abdulaziz University Dental Clinic — Bagher et al., Drug metabolism and personalized therapy (paywalled) · source ↗

• saliva
• dna-genotek-oragene
• pediatric
• genotyping

Using the Oragene Discovery 500 series for decentralised saliva collection in 524 African American adolescents, this study found that positive neighbourhood conditions relate to fewer behavioural difficulties, despite genetic risk. The authors note that most gene-environment studies of behaviour use European ancestry samples, limiting generalisability to African American youth.

Genetic Risk, Neighborhood Characteristics, and Behavioral Difficulties Among African American Adolescents Living in Very Low-Income Neighborhoods — Sterrett-Hong et al., Research on child and adolescent psychopathology (paywalled) · source ↗

• dna-genotek-oragene
• pediatric
• saliva
• genotyping

A study of 307 youth aged 10 to 14 years found that DNA extracted from saliva collected with Oragene kits was suitable for genotyping the OXTR rs53576 variant. This supports decentralised paediatric genetic testing, although the study was limited by its reliance on a community sample.

Depression in early adolescence: Contributions from relational aggression and variation in the oxytocin receptor gene — Kushner et al., Aggressive behavior (paywalled) · source ↗

• dna-genotek-oragene
• pediatric
• saliva
• genotyping

Saliva self-collection with Oragene tubes enabled genotyping of COMT polymorphisms in children, revealing that the AA genotype buffers the negative effect of authoritarian parenting on long-term executive dysfunction after early childhood traumatic brain injury. This demonstrates how decentralised genetic sampling can support longitudinal neurodevelopmental studies in paediatric populations.

Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Genotypes and Parenting Influence on Long-Term Executive Functioning After Moderate to Severe Early Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury: An Exploratory Study — Kurowski et al., The Journal of head trauma rehabilitation (paywalled) · source ↗

• saliva
• dna-genotek-oragene
• pediatric
• genotyping

DNA concentration from whole saliva correlates positively with age, so children yield significantly less DNA than adults. This means saliva collection protocols for genetic studies must be adjusted for paediatric populations to ensure adequate DNA quantity for genotyping.

The effect of age on DNA concentration from whole saliva: implications for the standard isolation method — Gassó et al., American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council (paywalled) · source ↗

• saliva
• dna-genotek-oragene
• validation
• pediatric
• genotyping