SPIRE1 and periodontitis: Notably, the mandibular BM-MSCs from the periodontitis group showed significantly reduced expression of LncRNA SPIRE1, compared with that from the healthy group; whereas peripheral blood samples had largely comparable levels of LncRNA SPIRE1 expression between two groups (Figure 1E), indicating that the local Th17/Treg imbalance might be more severe than that of the whole body.