PD-L1 Correlates with Chemokines and Cytokines in Gingival Crevicular Fluid from Healthy and Diseased Sites in Subjects with Periodontitis

Objective: PD-L1 is an immune checkpoint molecule that regulates immune and inflammatory responses. While cells of periodontal tissues express PD-L1, its presence in GCF is not known. The purpose of this study was to measure the PD-L1 values in GCF and correlate values with the presence of chemokine and cytokine values from periodontally diseased subjects and periodontally healthy subjects.

Results: PD-L1 values (pg/30 s), determined in triplicate using a fluorescent microparticle-based immunoassay ranged from 0.04-31.65 pg/30 s. PD-L1 correlated with 15 out of 22 chemokine and cytokine responses. In 85 healthy sites in 31 subjects, PD-L1 values were negatively correlated with IL6, CXCL8, IL10, and CCL3 values. In 53 diseased sites in 20 subjects, PD-L1 values were positively correlated with CCL11, CSF2, IFNG, IL1A, IL1B, IL2, IL7, IL15, and CCL5 values and negatively correlated with IL12A and IL5 values. Gene ontology (GO) annotations identified roles of PD-L1 in Th1 and Th2 activation and T-cell exhaustion signaling canonical pathways. PD-L1 values were correlated with the expression of chemokines and cytokines, which likely regulates immune cell trafficking and protects the periodontium from uncontrolled immune responses to pathogens and inflammation-induced tissue damage.