Levels of Interleukin-10 and Interleukin-12 in GCF in Chronic Periodontitis

Periodontal disease results from the host defense mechanism with the plaque microorganism. Cytokines are synthesized in response to bacteria and their product inducing and maintaining inflammatory response in periodontitis. Previous studes had shown that the total amount (pg/site) of GCF IL-12 was higher in periodontitis sites than in healthy sites. Objective: This study was to investigate the periodontal therapy on the IL-10 and IL-12 levels in GCF in chronic periodontitis patients. Methods: 18 patients with moderate to advanced periodontitis had participated in this study. Those patients had had at least 5 sites with PD equal or greater than 5mm at the date of initial therapy. Clinical parameters (PD, CAL and GI) as well as GCF volume were collected prior to and 6 weeks after periodontal therapy. GCF were collected with Periostrips and assay for IL-10 and IL-12 by ELISA. The concentration (pg/ul) of a cytokine was calculated in the original volume of GCF on each stripe. The total amount (pg/site) of a cytokine was expressed as the concentration multiplied by volume of GCF. Results: The sites with PD equal or greater than 5mm were subject to statistical analysis. IL-10 and IL-12 in GCF were detected in majority of sites from periodontitis patients (66.02% and 87.37% respectively). There was a positive correlation between the total amount of IL-10 and IL-12 (r = 0.5413, p< 0.0001). The concentration of both cytokines did not reduce after periodontal treatment, but the total amount of both cytokines as well as the clinical parameters and GCF volume were markedly reduced following periodontal treatment. Conclusions: Our data suggests that the total amount of IL-10 and IL-12 in GCF were associated with periodontal status. Removal of the bacterial plaque reduces the antigenic stimuli and consequently could modulate the IL-10 and IL-12 present in GCF.