Fas,FasL, Caspase-3 and DNA Fragmentation-Markers of Periodontal Disease

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine if the apoptotic or programmed cell death markers, soluble Fas, soluble Fas ligand, caspase-3, and DNA fragmentation sampled from human gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) can be used as markers of periodontal disease status.

Methods: As part of a pilot study, 28 adult patients, including 24 periodontally diseased and 4 periodontally healthy subjects were recruited from the University Of Michigan School Of Dentistry and from the general Ann Arbor community. Following informed consent and screening procedures, clinical periodontal measurements, whole saliva, serum, and GCF from the mesiobuccal site of each tooth were collected. All GCF samples from one of the diseased subjects were assayed for DNA fragmentation using ELISA assays and for Fas/Fas L and caspase-3 using Western blotting. Band intensity for protein markers was used for quantification.

Results: Our results showed a statistically significant increase in DNA fragmentation in GCF from diseased sites versus non-diseased sites (Rē = 0.69). Western blot analyses showed a significant increase in band intensity in diseased versus healthy sites for Fas (Rē=0.6406), FasL (Rē=0.7678) and caspase-3 (Rē=0.6529).

Conclusions: Based on these data, the apoptotic markers Fas,FasL, caspase-3, and DNA fragmentation correlate with periodontal disease status of individual sites. These data further suggest that apoptotic cell death may be a significant mechanism relevant to periodontal disease pathogenesis (Supported by NIH R01-DE013725 to YLK;Supported by CTSA grant # UL1RR024986 to YLK; supported by NCRR grant UL1RR024986 to YLK).