Trevilatto P C, Scarel-Caminaga R M, de Brito R B, de Souza A P, Line S R P
Department of Morphology, Dental School of Piracicaba, State University of Campinas, SP, Brazil.
J Clin Periodontol. 2003 May;30(5):438-42. doi: 10.1034/j.1600-051x.2003.20016.x.
Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a multifunctional cytokine that mediates inflammatory tissue destruction. A G to C substitution at position -174 in the promoter of IL-6 gene reduces in vitro transcription of IL-6. This polymorphism has been associated with inflammatory diseases like chronic arthritis.
The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the IL-6-174 polymorphism and susceptibility to chronic periodontitis in Brazilians.
Eighty-four nonsmoking subjects over 25 years (mean age 42.4) were divided according to the severity level of periodontal disease: 36 healthy individuals (control group), 24 subjects with moderate and 24 with severe periodontitis. Genomic DNA was obtained from epithelial cells through a mouthwash with 3% glucose and scraping of oral mucosa. The samples were analyzed for IL-6-174 polymorphism using PCR-RFLP. The significance of the differences in the frequencies of the polymorphism in the control and groups with periodontitis was assessed by chi2 test (p<0.05).
Differences were found between control and groups with periodontitis in the genotype (p=0.0036, OR=3.0) and in the allele (p=0.0838, OR=1.9) frequencies.
We concluded that the IL-6-174 polymorphism is associated with susceptibility to chronic periodontitis in the population studied.
