Department of Pathology, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya 663-8501, Japan.
Jpn J Infect Dis. 2010 Nov;63(6):427-32.
Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease caused by the infection of periodontopathic bacteria in dental plaque. However, an individual's susceptibility to this disease appears to be associated with multiple genetic factors, as seen in the case of leprosy. In order to gain a better understanding of the pathophysiology of periodontal disease in subjects with leprosy, we investigated the clinical features of periodontitis and the immunological responses against periodontopathic bacteria in 382 subjects with a history of leprosy and 451 age-matched control subjects. The prevalence of periodontitis and the degree of periodontal pocket depth were found to be significantly higher in leprosy patients than in age-matched controls. Furthermore, a comparison of the clinical parameters of lepromatous leprosy (L-lep) and tuberculoid leprosy (T-lep) patients showed that the probing pocket depth of L-lep patients with periodontal disease was significantly higher than that for T-lep patients. In contrast, serum IgG titers against Porphyromonas gingivalis in L-lep patients were significantly lower than in T-lep patients. These results imply that L-lep patients show more severe periodontal disease than T-lep patients or age-matched control subjects, and that low humoral immunity against P. gingivalis might be one of the genetic factors determining periodontal disease susceptibility in leprosy patients.
牙周炎是一种由牙菌斑中牙周病致病菌感染引起的慢性炎症性疾病。然而，个体对这种疾病的易感性似乎与多个遗传因素有关，麻风病就是一个例子。为了更好地了解麻风病患者牙周病的病理生理学，我们调查了 382 名有麻风病病史的患者和 451 名年龄匹配的对照组的牙周炎的临床特征和对牙周病致病菌的免疫反应。结果发现，与年龄匹配的对照组相比，麻风病患者的牙周炎患病率和牙周袋深度明显更高。此外，对瘤型麻风（L-lep）和结核样型麻风（T-lep）患者的临床参数进行比较后发现，患有牙周病的 L-lep 患者的探诊袋深度明显高于 T-lep 患者。相比之下，患有牙周病的 L-lep 患者的血清 IgG 抗牙龈卟啉单胞菌滴度明显低于 T-lep 患者。这些结果表明，L-lep 患者的牙周病比 T-lep 患者或年龄匹配的对照组更严重，针对 P. gingivalis 的低体液免疫可能是决定麻风病患者牙周病易感性的遗传因素之一。
