Clinical improvement following therapy for periodontitis: Association with a decrease in IL-1 and IL-6

Although a number of inflammatory cytokines have been shown to be associated with periodontal pathogenesis, it is important to investigate further whether these biomarkers are associated with the degree of success in nonsurgical treatment of chronic periodontitis. The aim of the present study was to quantify the total levels of interleukin (IL)-1 alpha, -1 beta, -6, -10 and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) of chronic periodontitis patients prior to and following nonsurgical periodontal therapy. In total, 52 GCF samples from disease sites of patients with chronic periodontitis, prior to and following periodontal therapy, and ten non-disease sites from non-periodontitis subjects, were collected and cytokine concentrations were determined using a multiplex method. Periodontal parameters, including bleeding on probing, probing pocket depth and the clinical attachment level, in all the sites were recorded. Untreated disease sites exhibited higher cytokine levels in the GCF when compared with the non-disease sites. Nonsurgical periodontal therapy resulted in a statistically significant decrease in the total levels of IL-1 alpha, -1 beta and -6 in the GCF, but not in IL-10 or TNF-alpha. The results support the hypothesis that proinflammatory cytokines, including IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta and IL-6, are likely to be involved in the pathogenesis of periodontitis and are good markers to evaluate the success of nonsurgical therapy in disease sites of patients with periodontitis.