IL-17 in sera from patients with aggressive periodontitis

Interleukin-17 (il-17),the prototype cytokine produced by the th17 subset of t-helper cells,plays a role in inflammatory responses,autoimmunity,and antimicrobial responses in a variety of infectious and inflammatory diseases. in view of the inflammatory nature and severity of aggressive periodontitis,we hypothesized that il-17 might be detected in sera from patients with aggressive periodontitis. we used elisa to measure il-17 serum concentrations from 67 periodontally healthy (np) individuals and from 53 patients with localized (lagp) and 49 patients with generalized (gagp) aggressive periodontitis. il-17 was barely detectable in sera from periodontally healthy individuals (1.9 ± 2.0 pg/ml),but was present at significantly higher concentrations in sera from those with lagp (7.6 ± 2.2 pg/ml) and gagp (17.1 ± 2.3 pg/ml). multivariate analyses demonstrated associations of il-17 concentrations with periodontal attachment loss,but not with current smoking. therefore,th17 responses may be characteristic of agp,and il-17 may play a role in the pathogenesis of aggressive periodontitis. © international & american associations for dental research.