Heterogeneity of systemic inflammatory responses to periodontal therapy.

AIMS: We investigated the effect of comprehensive periodontal therapy on the levels of multiple systemic inflammatory biomarkers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty patients with severe periodontitis received comprehensive periodontal therapy within a 6-week period. Blood samples were obtained at: 1-week pre-therapy (T1), therapy initiation (T2), treatment completion (T3), and 4 weeks thereafter (T4). We assessed the plasma concentrations of 19 biomarkers using multiplex assays, and serum IgG antibodies to periodontal bacteria using checkerboard immunoblotting. At T2 and T4, dental plaque samples were analysed using checkerboard hybridizations. RESULTS: At T3, PAI-1, sE-selectin, sVCAM-1, MMP-9, myeloperoxidase, and a composite summary inflammatory score (SIS) were significantly reduced. However, only sE-selectin, sICAM, and serum amyloid P sustained a reduction at T4. Responses were highly variable: analyses of SIS slopes between baseline and T4 showed that approximately 1/3 and 1/4 of the patients experienced a marked reduction and a pronounced increase in systemic inflammation, respectively, while the remainder were seemingly unchanged. Changes in inflammatory markers correlated poorly with clinical, microbiological and serological markers of periodontitis. CONCLUSIONS: Periodontal therapy resulted in an overall reduction of systemic inflammation, but the responses were inconsistent across subjects and largely not sustainable. The determinants of this substantial heterogeneity need to be explored further.

Periodontal therapy alters gene expression of peripheral blood monocytes.

AIMS: We investigated the effects of periodontal therapy on gene expression of peripheral blood monocytes. METHODS: Fifteen patients with periodontitis gave blood samples at four time points: 1 week before periodontal treatment (#1), at treatment initiation (baseline, #2), 6-week (#3) and 10-week post-baseline (#4). At baseline and 10 weeks, periodontal status was recorded and subgingival plaque samples were obtained. Periodontal therapy (periodontal surgery and extractions without adjunctive antibiotics) was completed within 6 weeks. At each time point, serum concentrations of 19 biomarkers were determined. Peripheral blood monocytes were purified, RNA was extracted, reverse-transcribed, labelled and hybridized with AffymetrixU133Plus2.0 chips. Expression profiles were analysed using linear random-effects models. Further analysis of gene ontology terms summarized the expression patterns into biologically relevant categories. Differential expression of selected genes was confirmed by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction in a subset of patients. RESULTS: Treatment resulted in a substantial improvement in clinical periodontal status and reduction in the levels of several periodontal pathogens. Expression profiling over time revealed more than 11,000 probe sets differentially expressed at a false discovery rate of <0.05. Approximately 1/3 of the patients showed substantial changes in expression in genes relevant to innate immunity, apoptosis and cell signalling. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that periodontal therapy may alter monocytic gene expression in a manner consistent with a systemic anti-inflammatory effect.