Aim: To assess the concentration of soluble CD14 receptor in saliva of people with periodontal disease and healthy patients and its relationship with periodontal status.
Subjects and methods: Unstimulated whole saliva samples from patients with chronic periodontitis (n = 34), aggressive periodontitis (n = 19) and healthy controls (n = 17) were obtained for the study. The periodontal status of each subject was assessed by criteria based on probing depth, clinical attachment loss and the extent of periodontal breakdown. The levels of sCD14 were measured in saliva samples with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
Results: Although no significant difference (P > 0.05) was found for salivary sCD14 levels between periodontitis groups, they were significantly greater (P < 0.05) than those detected for healthy controls. Furthermore, Spearman's correlation analysis showed statistically significant correlations (P < 0.01) between data from salivary sCD14 levels and clinical measurements.
Conclusion: The findings of the present study reemphasize the importance of whole saliva as sampling method in terms of immunological purposes in periodontal disease and suggest that the elevated sCD14 concentration may be one of the host-response components associated with the clinical manifestations of periodontal disease.