Investigation of the role of WASP which is cytoskeletal protein in the development of periodontitis

Periodontitis is an inflammatory autoimmune disease with multifactorial etiology, which affects the supporting tissues of the teeth, is characterized by deepening of periodontal pockets, loss of connective tissue attachment and alveolar bone loss. Inflammation and immune system defects have important roles in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases such as periodontitis. Actin cytoskeleton; it is involved in the cellular process essential for normal immune function, including movement, intercellular interactions, endocytosis, cytokinesis, signal transduction, and maintenance of cell morphology. WASP (Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein) is a cytoskeletal regulatory protein known to be involved in biological processes such as cell migration, cell signaling, increased inflammatory cytokines and excessive activation of inflammation. Studies show that changes in WASP expression level cause defects in immune and inflammatory response formation. For this reason, it is thought that WASP may be a risk factor for the development of periodontitis. The aim of our study was to determine the mRNA and protein expression levels of the WASP gene in periodontitis and healthy gingival tissues. In our study, 20 periodontitis and 20 healthy gingival tissues from the same patients were included. Gene expression levels were determined by SYBR green based PCR and protein expression levels were determined by western blot analysis. According to our study results, it was found that the expression level of the WASP gene in periodontitis tissue was statistically significantly increased compared to the control tissue, while the protein level was significantly decreased. Our results suggest that WASP may be effective in the onset and development of periodontitis. Moreover, understanding the inflammatory/immune mechanisms in periodontitis may be useful for diagnosis, prevention and treatment of periodontitis in its early stages. Keywords: Actin Cytoskeleton, Immunity, Inflammation, Periodontitis, WASP