Interleukin-17 and interleukin-18 levels in different stages of inflammatory periodontal disease.

CONTEXT

Chronic periodontitis is an inflammatory condition of the tooth supporting structures. There is increasing evidence that the cytokines interleukin-17 (IL-17) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) play a role in progression of chronic periodontitis.

AIM

The objective of this study was to compare the levels of the cytokines IL-17 and IL-18 in gingival tissue extracts from individuals with healthy gingiva, chronic gingivitis, and mild chronic periodontitis.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

The study was performed in a hospital-based population with an experimental design.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 69 individuals (n = 23 per group) were recruited for the study. Group 1 included 23 individuals with healthy gingiva and Group 2 included 23 chronic gingivitis patients and Group 3 included 23 patients with mild chronic periodontitis. Gingival tissues were collected during surgical procedures and levels of IL-17 and IL-18 were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Intergroup comparison was done by posthoc Tukey's test.

RESULTS

The gingival tissue concentration of IL-17 was found to be highest in Group 2 (415.19 ± 76.84 pg/mg) followed by Group 3 (193.77 ± 37.32 pg/mg) and Group 1 (20.49 ± 6.05 pg/mg). Concentrations of IL-18 were significantly higher (P < 0.01) in Group 2 (1479.42 ± 330.33 pg/mg) when compared with Group 1 (385.18 ± 71.26 pg/mg) and Group 3 (330.24 ± 48.56 pg/mg).

CONCLUSION

There appears to be considerable variation of IL-17 and IL-18 levels in gingival tissue during periodontal health and disease.