P53 immunohistochemistry in chronic periodontitis, relation to smoking and histopathologic parameters

Abstract EN

Background and objectives Smoking is one of the main and important risk factors that increase risk of oral health problems.

There is a dose-response relationship between number of cigarettes smoked and the development of periodontal diseases, in addition, to an elevation of p53 in oral mucosa of smokers.

The aim of the study was to examine p53 immune expression in the gingival tissue samples in patients with different severity of chronic periodontitis in relation to different histopathological parameters and smoking status.

Methods Gingival tissue biopsies were taken from (30) smokers and (30) nonsmoker subjects with different severity of chronic periodontitis.

Staining profiles were classified according to the number of positive cells as well as to the location of the positive cells in the different epithelial layers of the specimens.

Results No significant difference was found between the median p53 labeling indices and any of the smoking status, severity of chronic periodontitis, epithelial thickness and number of blood vessels in the connective tissue.

However, a significant association was found between p53 immunostaining and number of inflammatory cells.

Conclusions Chronic periodontitis may accelerate smoking effects on p53 gene mutation.