Chemokine Receptor 2 () Gene Variants and Their Association with Periodontal Bacteria in Patients with Chronic Periodontitis.

Periodontitis, an inflammatory disease caused by subgingival Gram-negative (G-) bacteria, is linked with loss of the connective tissue and destruction of the alveolar bone. In the regulation of inflammatory response, chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2), a specific receptor for interleukin-8 and neutrophil chemoattractant, plays an important role. The first aim of this study was to investigate the gene variability in chronic periodontitis (CP) patients and healthy nonperiodontitis controls in the Czech population. The second aim was to find a relation between gene variants and the presence of periodontal bacteria. A total of 500 unrelated subjects participated in this case-control study. 329 CP patients and 171 healthy nonperiodontitis controls were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction techniques for three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): +785C/T (rs2230054), +1208T/C (rs1126579), and +1440A/G (rs1126580). A DNA microarray detection kit was used for the investigation of the subgingival bacterial colonization, in a subgroup of CP subjects ( = 162). No significant differences in allele, genotype, haplotype, or haplogenotype frequencies of gene variants between patients with CP and healthy controls ( > 0.05) were determined. Nevertheless, was detected more frequently in men positive for the C allele of the +785C/T polymorphism (61.8% vs. 41.1%, < 0.05; OR = 2.31, 95% CI = 1.03-5.20) and for the T allele of the +1208C/T variant (61.8% vs. 38.9%, < 0.05; OR = 2.54, 95% CI = 1.13-5.71). In contrast, no statistically significant associations of variants with seven selected periodontal bacteria were found in women. Although none of the investigated SNPs in the gene was associated with CP, the gene variants can be associated with subgingival colonization of G- bacteria in men with CP in the Czech population.