OBJECTIVETo investigate the correlation between infection of different human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) glycoprotein B (gB) genotypes and human chronic periodontitis.

METHODSA nested-polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) was employed to detect HCMV gB gene in the subgingival plaque samples from 65 chronic periodontitis patients and in the gingival crevicular fluid samples from 24 periodontally healthy control. The amplification fragments of gB gene were further genotyped by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). The correlation among infection with the different HCMV genotypes and the severity of periodontal lesion were evaluated.

RESULTSIn terms of teeth examined, the prevalence of HCMV (59.23%, 154/260) in the chronic periodontitis lesions was significantly higher than that of HCMV (32.29%, 31/96) in the periodontally healthy control (P < 0.01). Of the HCMV DNA positive samples from the chronic periodontitis lesions, 11.7% (18/154) was genotyped as gB I, 80.5% (124/154) as gB II, and 7.8% (12/154) as gB I and gB II co-infection, and of the HCMV DNA positive samples from the periodontal healthy control, 45.2% (14/31) was genotyped as gB I, 38.7% (12/31) as gB II, and 16.1% (5/31) as gB I and gB II co-infection. The gB II genotype was more dominant among the chronic periodontitis lesions compared with that among the periodontally healthy control (P < 0.01). In chronic periodontitis, no statistical significance could be found between infection of different HCMV gB genotypes and the different clinical parameters of CAL, PD and GI (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSSubgingival infection with HCMV is closely associated with chronic periodontitis. Infection of HCMV may not correlate directly with severity of periodontitis. However, gB II may be the dominant genotype of HCMV, which is associated with the chronic periodontitis.