Interleukin 1 and receptor antagonist levels in gingival crevicular fluid in heavy smokers versus non-smokers

Background/aims: This study aimed to investigate the concentration of the cytokine interleukin (IL)‐1β and its receptor antagonist IL‐1ra in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) in patients with adult periodontitis who were heavy smokers compared with non‐smokers. Method: GCF samples were collected from two groups of subjects: smokers and non‐smokers. Thirty‐nine GCF samples were harvested from 13 subjects with moderate to severe adult periodontitis who were heavy smokers. A further 30 GCF samples were harvested from 10 subjects with moderate to severe adult periodontitis who were non‐smokers. Subjects were selected from both genders and none had any relevant systemic illness, were pregnant, had recent medication or had received any periodontal therapy in the preceding 3 months. One deep bleeding site, one deep non‐bleeding site and one healthy site were investigated in each subject. Clinical measurements were recorded for each site, after obtaining a GCF sample using a Periopaper® strip. IL‐1β and IL‐1ra were quantified using new commercially available ELISA kits (Quantikine™), and could be detected in all samples. Results: For smokers, the mean concentrations for IL‐1β were 2714.5 (SD 4416.2) pg/µL for healthy sites, 37.0 (SD 57.2) pg/µL for non‐bleeding periodontitis sites and 24.5 (SD 29.2) pg/µL for bleeding periodontitis sites. The concentrations of IL‐1β for non‐smokers for the same category of sites were 393.8 (SD 867.1), 74.2 (SD 107.0) and 73.1 (SD 61.0) pg/µL, respectively. The mean concentrations of IL‐1ra for smokers were 5.8 × 105 (SD 9.7) pg/µL for healthy sites, 2.2 × 105 (SD 0.15) pg/µL for deep non‐bleeding sites and 0.19 × 105 (SD 0.07) pg/µL for deep bleeding sites. The concentrations for non‐smokers were: 4.1 × 1010 (SD 3.8), 18.1 × 105 (SD 20.4) and 3.2 × 105 (SD 2.3) pg/µL, respectively. Significance levels of P