Influence of IL-6 haplotypes on clinical and inflammatory response in aggressive periodontitis

The aim of this study was to investigate the inflammatory response in aggressive periodontitis (AgP) patients after periodontal therapy and associate these changes to subjects' interleukin-6 (IL-6) genetic variants.

Twelve non-smoking UK Caucasian patients with AgP were selected based on their IL6 haplotypes (six haplotype positive and six haplotype negative based on polymorphisms rs 2069827 and rs 2069825) and underwent full mouth non-surgical periodontal therapy, followed by open flap surgery. Gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and peripheral blood samples were taken at baseline and at six different time points after treatment. Gingival biopsy samples were harvested during surgery and underwent immunohistochemical analysis for identification of IL-6.

An overall improvement in clinical periodontal parameters was observed following periodontal therapy. Haplotype status was associated with clinical presentation, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans counts in subgingival plaque samples, white cell count, neutrophils, red cell count and haemoglobin. GCF IL-6 concentrations increased dramatically 1 day after surgery and IL-6 haplotype-positive subjects exhibited a higher magnitude in this increase.

IL6 haplotypes may have an effect on clinical presentation and magnitude and kinetics of local and systemic inflammatory responses following non-surgical and surgical periodontal therapy in aggressive periodontitis.

Detecting IL-6 haplotype-positive periodontitis patients might become helpful in identifying subjects prone to excessive inflammatory response and increased periodontal breakdown.