Serum Antibodies to Periodontal Bacteria

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine how serum antibodies reactive with periodontitis‐associated bacteria with relates to the diagnosis of periodontitis subjects. Study groups included localized juvenile periodontitis (LJP) subjects, severe periodontitis (SP) subjects, chronic adult periodontitis (AP) subjects, and age matched controls. Twentytwo bacterial strains, representing 18 different species most commonly found in early onset periodontitis were evaluated using serum from LJP, SP, and age matched controls. Serum IgG reactive with these organisms was determined using a radioimmunoassay (RIA). Serum antibody reactive with 13 bacterial strains differed significantly (PActinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (Y4 and N27), Fusobacterium nucleatum (E1D1), Eubacterium brachy, and Bacteroides gingivalis. The low classification rate of SP subjects suggested heterogeneity. The SP group could be divided into three subgroups using the serological data. One subgroup, with “super” severe attachment loss, generally lacked antibody reactive with these five organisms, another subgroup was serologically similar to LJP subjects, while the third subgroup had antibodies to additional organisms. This suggests that some SP subjects may represent a more advanced form of LJP. Comparison of antibody reactivity of AP subjects with age matched controls to 23 bacterial types revealed that mean serum antibody reactivity to only Bacteroides gingivalis was higher in AP subjects. The results of this study suggest that current clinical classifications can yield heterogeneous groups of patients and that serum antibody reactive with some organisms may help separate these larger groups into more homogeneous subgroups. J Periodontol 1990;61:412–419.