The first evidence that a deficiency in white blood cell function can lead to early-onset periodontal disease was presented in the June 2001 issue of Journal of Periodontology.
Massachusetts scientists used a mouse model that mimics the human disease leukocyte adhesion deficiency type II to study early-onset periodontitis. Leukocytes use the selectin-glycoprotein interaction to migrate from blood vessels into infection sites. Researchers "knocked out" the genes for two selectins in mice. In the knockout mice, researchers found that white blood cells were unable to latch onto the sides of the mice’s blood vessel walls, leave the bloodstream, go to the infection sites and fight the disease.
When the mice were six weeks old, scientists found that the mice had lost 25 percent of their mandibular alveolar bone. Control mice had no bone loss.
To determine if bacteria are required to initiate the disease process, researchers gave antibiotics to some of the knockout mice. The antibiotics reduced the amount of bacteria present in the knockout mice’s mouths and eliminated alveolar bone loss.
Researchers concluded that bacteria are necessary in the development of early-onset periodontal disease.
