Correlation of DNA, LPS-binding-protein and CD14 of periodontal microbes and cardiac tissue-preliminary results

Objective: Periodontitis is common as well as cardiac disease. Coincidental or casual correlation of these diseases is a pivotal question. In an experimental setting we evaluated methods to detect correlations of periodontal disease and effect on cardiac tissue.

Methods: Out of 10 patients with more than 6 teeth a complete dental and periodontal status with oral microbiological testing and removal of tissue specimen while cardiac operation (left ventricle, right atrium and aortic valve) was performed. The detection of 11 periodontal pathogens in the oral and heart samples was carried out with PCR. The heart samples were prepared for detecting LPS-binding protein (Western Blot), sections of tissue for inflammation scoring by H&E staining (score 0-3), and for determining immunohistochemical parameters: macrophages (CD68), LPS-binding protein (big42) and LPS-binding protein-receptor (CD14).

Results: All 10 patients had aortic valve disease and 5 had concomitant coronary heart disease. 6 were male and mean age was 69 years. Periodontitis was severe in 7, moderate in 2 and mild in 1 patient. Finding of microbial DNA was high (>70%) in oral periodontal specimen and decreased in cardiac tissue (atrium of 10-40%; in ventricle 10-20% and valve 0-20%). IHC revealed high inflammation scores in all cardiac tissue specimens, and big42, CD14 and CD68 immuno-staining showed higher scores in atrial tissue than in ventricle.

Conclusions: IHC, western-blot and DNA-PCR findings showed a relationship and occurrence of periodontal microbial affection in cardiac tissue with subsequent immunoreaction by high LPS reaction and macrophage infiltration. We suspect a casual correlation of periodontal and cardiac disease, and further investigations are initiated to verify this hypothesis.