Association between chronic periodontitis and serum sST2, a novel cardiac biomarker, in a Thai population

Abstract

Chronic periodontitis is an inflammatory disease of tooth supporting tissues. Inflammatory cytokines produced from periodontitis lesions could leak into circulation and cause systemic inflammation. Soluble ST2 (sST2) is a cardiac biomarker that is secreted in response to systemic inflammation. Therefore, this study aimed to examine whether chronic periodontitis is associated with an increased level of serum sST2 in a Thai population. The study subjects comprised 1,872 individuals with mean age of 59.4±4.6 years. Of these, 209 individuals were diagnosed with no/mild chronic periodontitis, while 984 and 679 individuals were diagnosed with moderate and severe chronic periodontitis, respectively. The median sST2 concentration was 18.1 ng/ml. The concentration was higher in male than in female (18.8 versus 15.7 ng/ml). Linear regression analysis demonstrated that sST2 levels were associated with sex, gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), albumin, diabetes mellitus and triglycerides. The concentration of sST2 in male was associated with GGT, AST, albumin, diabetes mellitus and triglycerides. The sST2 in female subjects was associated with AST, albumin, diabetes mellitus, high density lipoprotein, moderate chronic periodontitis and severe chronic periodontitis. The findings of the present study indicated that sST2 was associated with chronic periodontitis only in female subjects.