Interleukin-1 (IL-1), a significant inflammatory cytokine, is regarded as one of key factors participating in periodontitis disease pathogenesis.A number of recent studies have investigated a role of polymorphisms in genes for IL-1α and IL-1β in periodontitis development, present findings, however, are not completely consistent.We studied variants in the genes for IL-1α (-889 C/T) and IL-1β (+3953 C/T) in the Czech population in 148 patients with chronic periodontitis and 107 controls. Polymorphisms were detected by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method with a subsequent restriction analysis by enzymes Nco I (IL-1α) and Taq I (IL-1β). Analysis of individual polymorphic variants revealed significantly elevated IL-1β +3953 C allele frequency in patients with periodontitis compared with controls (78.0% versus 67.8%, p = 0.006, pcorr < 0.05). Distribution of IL-1α -889 alleles and genotypes did not differ significantly between the two groups. The frequency of a so-called composite genotype [IL-1α (-889) T + IL-1β (+3953) T] was significantly reduced in patients versus controls. In conclusion, we can state that IL-1 gene polymorphisms can play a role in etiopathogenesis of chronic periodontitis in the Czech population.

        Key words: periodontitis – interleukin-1-gene – polymorphism – haplotype