Evaluation of microbiota associated with Herpesviruses in active sites of generalized aggressive periodontitis

Abstract

Aims: The present study aimed to investigate microbial patterns associated with disease progression and coinfection by different Herpesviruses in generalized aggressive periodontitis (GAP).

Methods: Microbiological samples were obtained from active (AS) and non-active (n-AS) sites in 165 subjects affected by GAP and were analyzed for 40 bacterial species by the Checkerboard DNA-DNA Hybridization technique and for Herpes simplex 1 (HSV-1), Human Cytomegalovirus (CMV), and Epstein Bar virus (EBV) by PCR.Common Factor Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis were applied to disclose specific microbial patterns associated with the three viruses.

Results: Herpesviruses were detected in 37.6% of subjects. Detection of each of the searched viruses was associated with specific patterns of subgingival biofilm in AS. Logistic regression analyses evidenced several virus/bacteria associations: i) EBV with Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans; ii) CMV with A. actinomycetemcomitans, Veillonella parvula, Parvimonas micra and Fusobacterium nucleatum subsp. polymorphum; iii) HSV-1 with Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, Fusobacterium periodonticum and Staphylococcus aureus.

Conclusions: Microbiological data suggest that Herpesviruses are probably not mere spectators of disease progression and that specific patterns of subgingival plaque are correlated with the presence of different Herpesviruses.

Keywords: disease progression; generalized aggressive periodontitis; herpesviruses; microbiota.

Figure 1

Plot of differences of percentages of total DNA probe count of the 40 test species in subgingival biofilm samples between 165 AS and 165 n-AS of generalized aggressive periodontitis. Significant differences between AS and n-AS for each species are indicated with an asterisk. Species were ordered and grouped according to the complexes described by Socransky et al., 1998 (28).

Figure 2

Mean percentage (±standard deviation) of the total DNA probe count of the 40 test species in subgingival biofilm samples from 165 AS of generalized aggressive periodontitis distinguished according to positivity for detection of HSV-1 (HSV+), EBV (EBV+), CMV (CMV+) or no Herpesvirus (HHV−) specific sequences. Significance of differences for each species between AS of HSV+, or EBV+, or CMV+, and HHV− sites is indicated by replicating the symbol corresponding to each category at the top of the plot. Species were ordered and grouped according to the complexes described by Socransky et al., 1998 (28).