Effect of smoking on interleukin-10 and interferon-gamma levels in gingival crevicular fluid of patients with periodontitis

Background and aim: periodontitis is an inflammatory disease of toothsupportingtissues; several factors are involved in the development and severity ofperiodontitis among which smoking can be mentioned; however, the exactmechanism of the effect of smoking on progression of periodontitis is not still wellknown. in this regard, the present study was conducted to evaluate interleukin-10and gamma interferon levels in gingival crevicular fluid (gcf) of patients withchronic periodontitis.methods: this case-control study was carried out on 60 men referred to thedepartment of periodontology of babol faculty of dentistry; 30 smokers and 30age-matched non-smokers, both with chronic periodontitis, entered the case andthe control group respectively. those with systemic disease were excluded fromthe study. assessment of periodontal health was performed by using the dentalplaque, barnett gingival bleeding and probing pocket depth (ppd) indices.cytokines level in the gcf evaluated by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(elisa). data were analyzed by spss18 statistical software by using mann-whitney and spearman rho tests.results: the mean dental plaque index showed no significant difference betweenthe two groups (p=0.1). although gingival bleeding index was higher in controlcompared to the case group, the difference was not significant (p=0.08). the meanppd was lower in the case that the control group (p=0.02). the mean interleukin-10 and gamma interferon levels was respectively 1.25 (±0.04) pg/ml and 0.82(±0.44) pg/ml in smoking and 1.22 (±0.44) pg/ml and 0.75 (±0.32) pg/ml in nonsmokinggroup (p > 0.05). in addition, a reverse correlation has been foundbetween gamma interferon and interleukin-10 in both groups which was notsignificant (p > 0.05).conclusion: il-10 level in gcf was higher in the case than the control group;however, the difference was not significant. further investigations are, therefore,required to confirm this observation.