“…In general, increased levels of sCD14 have been found in non-infectious and infectious diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (Nockher et al, 1994), rheumatoid arthritis (Horneff et al, 1993), polytraumatised and severely burned patients (Kruger et al, 1991), septic shock (Landmann et al, 1995), malaria (Wenisch et al, 1996), brucellosis (Ayaslioglu et al, 2005), HIV-infection (Lien et al, 1998), and tuberculosis with or without HIV infection (Lawn et al, 2000). Hayashi et al (1999) investigated the concentrations of sCD14 in the sera of patients with adult periodontitis, early-onset periodontitis and compared with periodontally healthy donors. They found that sCD14 concentration in serum was significantly higher in patients with periodontitis than in healthy controls, but did not find significant difference between both clinical forms of periodontitis.…”