Defective neutrophil and monocyte motility in patients with early onset periodontitis

Several studies have documented suppressed polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) chemotaxis in most patients with juvenile periodontitis. In contrast, data regarding PMN chemotaxis in patients with rapidly progressive periodontitis are very limited, and monocyte (MN) chemotaxis and random migration of PMNs or MNs from these patients have not been studied previously. Accordingly, we examined cell motility of PMNs and MNs from 27 patients with rapidly progressive periodontitis, 5 patients with juvenile periodontitis, and 37 normal control subjects by using a microchamber technique and the synthetic peptide N-formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP) as the chemoattractant. As a group, PMNs and MNs from patients with rapidly progressive periodontitis manifested significantly enhanced random migration relative to control cells (P less than 0.001), suppressed directed migration (chemotaxis) at FMLP doses of 10(-9) and 10(-8) M (P less than 0.05), and enhanced directed migration at a dose of 10(-6) M FMLP (P less than 0.01). In contrast, PMNs from patients with juvenile periodontitis exhibited normal random migration, and directed migration was significantly suppressed at all doses of FMLP tested (P less than 0.05). An abnormality of either PMN or MN motility was observed in 26 of 27 patients with rapidly progressive periodontitis. Enhanced random migration was seen in PMNs in 63%, MNs in 39%, and both cell types in 26% of the patients. Suppressed chemotaxis was seen in PMNs in 85%, in MNs in 74%, and in both cell types in 69% of the patients. The prevalence and magnitude of abnormalities in motility were somewhat lower in treated than in untreated patients. Thus, most, if not all, of this subgroup of patients with early onset, highly destructive periodontitis have abnormalities in PMN or MN motility, and these defects may differ from those seen in cells from patients with the juvenile form of the disease.