Interleukin-1 beta regulation of adhesion molecules on human gingival and periodontal ligament fibroblasts

Background: Adhesion molecules have been implicated in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and may also play a role in the pathogenesis of period ontal disease by promoting the recruitment and retention of leukocytes in g ingival tissue. Methods: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the capacity of inter leukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) to regulate adhesion molecule expression on clini cally healthy human gingival (HGF) and periodontal ligament (PDL) fibroblas ts. The HGF (n = 6) and PDL (n = 3) fibroblasts were treated with 1.0 ng/ml of IL-1 beta for 24 hours and then incubated with primary intercellular ad hesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cellular adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM- 1) antibodies followed by FITC-conjugated secondary antibodies. The express ion of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 was measured by immunofluorescence flow cytometry. Results: The levels of ICAM-1 expression in IL-1 beta treated HGF and PDL f ibroblasts were statistically significant (P less than or equal to0.05) com pared to normal untreated controls using log-transformed data and 3-way ana lysis of variance. Both cells expressed VCAM-1 after IL-I beta treatment, b ut the levels were not statistically different from controls. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that IL-1 beta upregulated ICAM-1 expr ession in both HGF and PDL fibroblasts. Even though the level of VCAM-1 was not statistically different from both HGF and PDL fibroblasts treated with IL-lp compared to controls, both cells do express the VCAM-1 molecules. Th ese results suggest that ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 might be involved in the pathoge nesis of periodontal disease.