Prevalence of IL-1A and IL-1B polymorphisms in a Greek population

Objectives: Given the possible ethnic diversity in distribution of genetic variants, aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of the polymorphisms of IL-1A(+4845) and IL-1B(+3954) in a Greek population of unknown periodontal status and to compare this prevalence with one from a group of patients with chronic (adult) periodontitis. Material and methods: 110 healthy subjects of unknown periodontal status and 45 patients with chronic periodontitis were genotyped, using a PCR-based method and primers described in the literature. The differences in genotype, allele frequencies, allele carriage rate and presence of positive composite genotype as described by Kornman et al. (1997) were analyzed using Fisher's exact test and calculating two-sided p-value, odds ratios and confidence intervals. Results: No differences were observed in any of the parameters tested between the two groups. Conclusions: Given the high prevalences of these polymorphisms observed in the general population,findings of the present study do not support a possible predictive value of the presence of allele 2 at IL-1A(+4845) and IL-1B(+3954) or the positive composite genotype for presence or absence of periodontal disease,in a Greek population.