Evaluation of salivary bactericidal permeability-increasing protein (BPI) and interleukin-1beta (Il-1β) levels in periodontally healthy individuals and patients with periodontal disease

Objective: Bactericidal permeability enhancing protein (BPI) is a cationic protein found in saliva that plays an important role in host defense with its antimicrobial and endotoxin neutralizing functions against gram-negative bacteria and endotoxins. The aim of this study is to determine the levels of BPI and interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) in the saliva of periodontally healthy individuals and patients with periodontitis, and to examine the relationships between these molecules with each other and with clinical periodontal parameters. Method: A total of 100 subjects, including the healthy control group (n = 50) and the periodontitis group (n = 50), were included in our study. Clinical periodontal parameters including plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), probing depth (PD), bleeding at probing (BOP) and clinical attachment level (CAL) were recorded from all participants. Unstimulated saliva samples were collected from all participants. BPI and IL-1β levels in the collected saliva samples were determined by enzyme linked immune absorbent method (ELISA). The obtained data were analyzed through the SPSS 23.0 program. Results: As a result of the statistical analysis, it was found that all clinical periodontal parameters in the periodontitis group were statistically significantly higher than the periodontally healthy group (p˂0,001). BPI and IL-1β levels in saliva were found to be statistically significantly higher in the periodontitis group compared to the healthy group (p˂0,001). Strong positive correlations were found between saliva BPI levels and all clinical periodontal parameters and saliva IL-1β levels (p <0,01). Conclusion: According to the results of our study; we consider that higher salivary BPI levels in the periodontitis group may play a role in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease and also salivary BPI levels may be a biomarker that can be used in the diagnosis of periodontal diseases. The high level of saliva BPI levels in the periodontitis group compared to the healthy group may guide future studies in explaining the pathophysiological mechanism between periodontitis and BPI.