Periodontitis-Associated Bacteria and Their Connection to Proinflammatory Biomarkers in Periodontal Pockets:...

This study examines the relationship between the microbial load of selected periodontitis-associated bacteria (PAB) and proinflammatory biomarkers in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) from patients with periodontitis.

GCF and subgingival biofilm samples were collected from the deepest periodontal pocket of each quadrant of 515 patients diagnosed with periodontitis using sterile GCF collection strips for GCF and sterile paper points for subgingival biofilm. Selected PAB (i.e., Porphyromonas gingivalis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Prevotella intermedia, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Treponema denticola, and Tannerella forsythia) were analyzed and associated with the concentrations of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and active-matrix metalloproteinase-8 (aMMP-8).

Increased aMMP-8 (β:187.75, CI:[132.45;243.05], p < 0.001) and IL-8 levels (β:144.27, CI:[84.04;204.50], p < 0.001) were associated with deeper mean probing pocket depths. Smoking was significantly associated with decreased aMMP-8 (β:-121.81, CI:[-202.51;-41.11], p = 0.003) and IL-8 (β:-95.44, CI:[-182.03;-8.86], p = 0.031) expression. Multivariate analysis adjusted for confounding factors revealed a significant association between IL-8 and P. gingivalis (β: 26.68, CI:[2.00;51.37], p = 0.034).

Higher levels of proinflammatory biomarkers were observed in patients with advanced periodontal disease. Notably, the findings suggest that IL-8 levels, but not aMMP-8, might be associated with P. gingivalis levels. The results further confirm that smoking is an important confounder when examining biomarkers.