Salivary proteome modifications associated with periodontitis in obese patients

Abstract

To identify changes in the salivary protein/peptide profiles by differential proteomics in obese patients with or without periodontitis. Periodontal examinations and whole saliva samples were obtained from 38 obese patients (mean age: 45.1±7.3years, mean BMI: 49.3±9kg/m(2) ) including 13 periodontitis and 25 non-periodontitis subjects, and 19 healthy controls (mean age: 44.2±6.4years, mean BMI: 21.5±2.1kg/m(2) ). Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (SELDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) was used to compare the whole saliva polypeptide profiles. The SELDI-TOF-MS analysis detected eight putative markers. Six of them were increased and identified in obese subjects versus controls (albumin, α and β haemoglobin chains, α-defensins 1, 2 and 3). Alpha-defensins were less abundant in saliva of periodontitis obese patients (36.47±19.84μA) versus non-periodontitis obese patients (43.44±30.34 μA), whereas α-defensins were more abundant in obese patients (40.99±26.66 μA) versus controls (27.1±23.98 μA). Periodontal status modifies the salivary proteome in obese patients. Alpha-defensins may play a role in gingival inflammation, and be involved in the higher susceptibility of obese patients to periodontal diseases.