Cell-mediated immunity in periodontal disease; cytotoxicity, migration inhibition and lymphocyte transformation studies.

Abstract

Cultures of peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with gingivitis or mild periodontitis were stimulated with ultrasonicates of Veillonella alcalescens to yield an increase of (14)C-thymidine incorporation and of cytotoxicity against (51)Cr-labelled chicken red cells. The cell-free supernatant from the antigen-stimulated cultures inhibited migration of guinea-pig peritoneal macrophages. In patients with severe periodontitis lymphocytes showed only weak transformation but strong cytotoxic and migration-inhibitory activity. These data suggest that cell-mediated immunity against an oral Gram-negative micro-organism plays some part in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. The advanced stage of disease, however, revealed a dissociation between lymphocyte transformation and cytotoxicity or macrophage inhibition.