Evaluation of the salivary levels of visfatin, chemerin, and progranulin in periodontal inflammation

In recent years, adipokines have been reported to play an important role in chronic inflammatory diseases. In this study, our aim was to investigate the salivary levels of visfatin, chemerin, and progranulin and their relationship with periodontal health and disease. A total of 72 patients were included in the study, 23 of which were periodontally healthy, 24 had gingivitis, and 25 had periodontitis. The clinical periodontal parameters including plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), probing depth (PD), and clinical attachment levels (CAL) were recorded. Unstimulated saliva samples were collected, and the concentration of adipokines was evaluated using standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Salivary visfatin levels were higher in patients with gingivitis and periodontitis compared to those of healthy subjects, while there was no difference between the mean values of gingivitis and periodontitis groups (P > 0.05). There was no difference between the mean values of gingivitis and healthy groups regarding salivary chemerin (P > 0.05), whereas it was detected at higher levels in the periodontitis group compared to the gingivitis and the healthy groups (P < 0.01). Salivary progranulin levels were similar in all groups (P > 0.05). The salivary visfatin level was positively related to PI and GI. The salivary chemerin level was positively related to GI, PD, and CAL. These results demonstrated that the higher levels of chemerin in the saliva of patients with periodontitis were correlated with the degree of tissue destruction. Chemerin may be a novel biomarker in saliva to determine the severity of periodontal disease.