title: [Expression of human beta defensin-2 in normal and various periodontitis-involved gingiva].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the expression of HBD-2 peptides in normal and periodontitis-involved gingiva.
  
  
  METHODS
  Immunohistochemistry were performed for detection of HBD-2 peptides expression in gingival tissues from 11 healthy subjects,18 patients with chronic periodontitis and 9 patients with aggressive periodontitis. The data were quantitatively analyzed with a computerized image processing system. And the data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA with SPSS11.5.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HBD-2 peptides were expressed in all tissue samples. The expression of HBD-2 peptides were mainly confined to the granular and spinous layers of the gingival epithelium, in which HBD-2 was detected in the cytoplasm. Significantly higher levels of HBD-2 expression were found in healthy gingival epithelium as compared with that in chronic periodontitis among three groups(P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggested that HBD-2 may play an important role as part of the innate host defenses in maintaining periodontal health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine, School of Stomatology, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200011, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.forename: Li-jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Ling-hua
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Hao-yan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D010520:Aggressive Periodontitis / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D055113:Chronic Periodontitis / Q000378:metabolism*; D005881:Gingiva / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D023083:beta-Defensins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C106641:DEFB4A protein, human; D023083:beta-Defensins