Differential gene expression of human β‐defensins (hBD‐1, ‐2, ‐3) in inflammatory gingival diseases

Antimicrobial peptides, like human β‐defensins, play an important role in the epithelial innate defense response. The aim of the present study was to investigate the quantitative expression of human β‐defensin‐1, ‐2, and ‐3 in inflammatory gingival diseases. Gingival biopsies were obtained from patients with healthy gingiva (n = 10), patients with gingivitis (n = 10), and patients with periodontitis (n = 10). The clinical diagnosis was verified by histology. Gingival tissues were used for RNA extraction followed by reverse transcription. Gene expression was quantified by real‐time polymerase chain reaction (normalization with GAP‐DH). Comparing the tissues with different clinical stages of health and disease, no significant differences in mRNA expression were found for any of the β‐defensins studied. Similar levels of expression were found in healthy gingiva, whereas in gingivitis samples there was a significantly higher expression of hBD‐2 compared to hBD‐1 (P = 0.004) and hBD‐3 (P = 0.016). Likewise, in periodontitis samples, hBD‐2 expression was significantly higher than hBD‐1 (P = 0.016); however, hBD‐2 expression was comparable to hBD‐3. In conclusion, the results of the present study showed a differential expression of human β‐defensins (hBD‐1, ‐2, ‐3) in tissues with inflammatory gingival disease.