Tumor necrosis factor-alpha expression and detection of apoptosis at the site of chronic periodontitis in AIDS patients

Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is associated with the regulation of the life cell cycle of leukocytes in healthy and diseased states.In the present study, we investigated the presence of apoptosis of mononuclear inflammatory cells in the periodontal lesion from adult periodontitis in healthy control patients and AIDS patients.Tissue samples adjacent to a 5-6 mm gingival sulcus, measured with a periodontal probe, were obtained during routine periodontal surgical procedures. The direct immuno-peroxidase of digoxigenin-labeled genomic DNA method was used for in situ detection of apoptosis in gingival tissues.Many tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha)-positive cells, detected by immunohistochemistry method, were observed in gingival samples of both groups of patients. In addition, a significant lower number ( p0.05) of mononuclear apoptotic cells were observed in AIDS patients when compared with healthy control patients.These data suggested an important role of the apoptosis of mononuclear cells in the pathogenesis of chronic adult periodontitis in AIDS patients.