Depressed helper‐to‐suppressor T‐cell ratios in early‐onset forms of periodontal disease

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Abstract
Helper (CD4+)-to-suppressor (CD8+) T-cell ratios were determined by flow cytometry for 12 patients with early-onset forms of periodontal disease and their appropriate controls. When considered as a group, patients with early-onset periodontal disease showed a markedly depressed CD4+/CD8+ ratio relative to controls (means 0·92 and 1·50 respectively). This difference was significant at the 0·0015% level as determined by the Mann-Whitney test. Separate analysis of patients with either the juvenile or rapidly progressive types of early-onset periodontal disease showed both to have reduced CD4+/CD8+ ratios (means 0·91 and 0·92) relative to their controls (means 1·57 and 1·45) which were both statistically significant (p<0·05).