The relationship between elastase and lactoferrin in healthy, gingivitis and periodontitis sites

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To compare the relative amounts of elastase (primary polymorphonuclear leucocyte granule constituent) and lactoferrin (secondary PMN granule constituent) in the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) of healthy, gingivitis and periodontitis sites. DESIGN: This cross‐sectional study looked at the two GCF constituents in three categories of disease status within the same subject. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with chronic adult periodontitis were screened and those exhibiting all three types of sites ie periodontally healthy, gingivitis and periodontitis sites were recruited (n = 10) and had GCF collected from the three sites. Lactoferrin and elastase were measured in eluates of GCF by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The absolute amount of lactoferrin measured in ng per 30 s samples was significantly lower in healthy and gingivitis sites as compared to periodontitis sites however this difference failed to reach significance when the concentration of lactoferrin in GCF was used as the analytical unit. No significant differences were found for elastase levels at any sites when expressed as either absolute amounts or concentrations. Secondary granule release, as evidenced by lactoferrin levels, occurs during cell migration and the process is independent of primary granule release, which is thought to correlate with PMN activation. The relationship between granule constituents in the samples showed significant differences, the highest lactoferrinlelastase ratio being at periodontitis sites (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS These findings imply a change in the relative amounts of elastase and lactoferrin released at different disease level sites, with an almost 10‐fold increase in the proportion of lactoferrin to elastase in periodontitis sites over healthy and gingivitis sites. This variation in the release by PMNs of primary and secondary granule constituents may indicate alterations in PMN function in different disease environments.

Immunolocalization of Lactoferrin in Healthy and Inflamed Gingival Tissues

“…In consequence, it could be speculated that lactoferrin acts by its antimicrobial activity and not by the inhibition of biofilm formation at this time. This interpretation of the current data is in agreement with the observation that the protein is strongly upregulated within external secretions during airway, gut, and periodontal inflammations 9,10,40‐42 . In addition, no significant association between lactoferrin levels and measures of health status or plaque accumulation could be found in humans 43 and animals, 44 an observation that may be indicative for the antimicrobial activity of lactoferrin.…”

LTF and DEFB1 polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility toward chronic periodontitis development

“…British (Murray, Mooney, & Kinane, 1995) subjects, no differences between patients with periodontitis and controls were detected.…”

“…As regards the role of lactoferrin in periodontal disease (Fine, ), higher lactoferrin salivary levels were measured in Australian (Huynh et al., ), Indian (Yadav et al., ), Swedish (Glimvall, Wickstrom, & Jansson, ), Finnish (Suomalainen, Saxen, Vilja, & Tenovuo, ), Taiwanese (Tsai, Kao, & Chen, ; Wei et al., ), American (Fine, Furgang, & Beydouin, ), and British (Adonogianaki, Moughal, & Kinane, ) periodontitis patients with respect to healthy controls, while low lactoferrin level was found among Brazilian (Rocha Dde et al., ) and Chinese (Wu, Shu, Luo, Ge, & Xie, ) periodontitis patients. Finally, among Japanese (Ikuta et al., ), Swedish (Figueredo & Gustafsson, ), and British (Murray, Mooney, & Kinane, ) subjects, no differences between patients with periodontitis and controls were detected. Moreover, a study reported that high concentration of lactoferrin in gingival crevicular fluid significantly reduces after periodontal therapy (Yadav et al., ).…”

Effect of initial periodontal therapy on gingival crevicular fluid cytokine profile in subjects with chronic periodontitis

“…However, these markers were elevated in periodontally diseased compared with healthy subjects. Earlier studies indicated a similarity in GCF protein concentration (Gustafsson, Asman, & Bergstrom, 1995) or elastase levels (Jin, Soder, Asman, & Bergstrom, 1995;Murray, Mooney, & Kinane, 1995) in sites with various degrees of disease in the same periodontitis patient. In accordance with our findings, a later study (Teles, Sakellari, Teles, et al, 2010) indicated that sites without clinical signs of disease in diseased subjects showed higher levels of several cytokines than healthy sites in healthy subjects.…”