Response of periodontitis and healthy patients in a Porphyromonas gingivalis-stimulated whole-blood model.

Abstract

To investigate the inflammatory responses of periodontitis patients and healthy patients in a whole-blood model stimulated with Porphyromonas gingivalis. Whole blood collected from 17 periodontitis patients and six healthy patients was stimulated with Porphyromonas gingivalis cells. The secretion of cytokines and matrix metalloproteinases was quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. An analysis of covariance with the ancova model was used to evaluate the significance of differences in secreted host molecules by whole blood from the periodontitis and healthy groups. Porphyromonas gingivalis induced the secretion of interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, interleukin-8, tumor necrosis factor-α, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, interferon inducible protein-10 by whole blood from patients in the periodontitis and healthy groups. Matrix metalloproteinase-8 and -9 levels secreted by whole blood also increased following stimulation. No significant differences (P < 0.05) in the amounts of secreted host molecules were observed between periodontitis and healthy patients. This study suggests that Porphyromonas gingivalis can provoke an inflammatory response and promote the progression of periodontitis by inducing the secretion of high levels of cytokines and matrix metalloproteinases by a mixed leukocyte population. However, the whole-blood model did not reveal any significant differences in the inflammatory response between periodontitis patients (n = 17) and periodontally-healthy patients (n = 6).