Expression of Human Beta Defensin-2 in Normal and Various Periodontitis-Involved Gingiva

PURPOSE:To investigate the expression of HBD-2 peptides in normal and periodontitis-involved gingiva.METHODS:Immunohistochemistry were performed for detection of HBD-2 peptides expression in gingival tissues from 11 healthy subjects,18 patients with chronic periodontitis and 9 patients with aggressive periodontitis. The data were quantitatively analyzed with a computerized image processing system. And the data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA with SPSS11.5.RESULTS:HBD-2 peptides were expressed in all tissue samples. The expression of HBD-2 peptides were mainly confined to the granular and spinous layers of the gingival epithelium, in which HBD-2 was detected in the cytoplasm. Significantly higher levels of HBD-2 expression were found in healthy gingival epithelium as compared with that in chronic periodontitis among three groups(P<0.05).CONCLUSIONS:The results suggested that HBD-2 may play an important role as part of the innate host defenses in maintaining periodontal health.