Lymphocyte subpopulations and the expression of intercellular adhesion molecules in chronic periodontitis.

Immunological responses to invading bacteria play a major role in the course of inflammatory periodontal diseases, such as CP. It was suggested that one of the major elements in determining the course of the disease is the expression of cellular adhesion molecules. We therefore investigated the expression of cellular adhesion molecules, ICAM-1 and beta-1 integrins, capillary density and lymphocyte subpopulations in gingival biopsies obtained from 20 patients with CP who responded and 21 patient who failed to respond to initial treatment using immunohistochemical methods. We found no differences between the two groups in capillary density, ICAM-1 and beta-1 integrin expression. Patients who responded to treatment had a lymphocytic inflammatory infiltrate consisting predominantly of T cells, while those who failed to respond had an approximately equal number of T and B cells. Our findings support the role of host immunological mechanisms in determining the outcome of CP and argue against a major role of differential cellular adhesion molecule expression.