Quantitative Analysis of CCL5 and ep300 in Periapical Inflammatory Lesions
<p><strong>Objectives. </strong><em>In silico </em>bioinformatical analysis suggested that the expression of two genes, <em>CCL5 </em>(C-C Motif Chemokine Receptor 5) and <em>ep300 </em>(Histone acetyltransferase p300), could be used as potential new biomarkers in differentiation between periapical granulomas and radicular cysts. Thus, we hypothesized that gene expression of <em>CCL5 </em>and <em>ep300 </em>in periapical lesions would classify the lesions as either granuloma or cyst.</p><p><strong>Materials. </strong>Patient samples (n=122) included 46 periapical granulomas, 38 radicular cysts and 38 healthy gingival samples as controls. Real-time PCR analysis of <em>CCL5 </em>and <em>ep300 </em>transcripts was compared to <em>SDHA </em>(Succinate dehydrogenase complex, subunit A) as the reference. Clinical parameters (e.g., intensity of inflammation and lesion size) were measured and correlated with <em>CCL5 </em>and <em>ep300 </em>expression. ROC (Receiver operating characteristic) and logistic regression analyses were used to establish the diagnostic character of ΔCt values.</p><p><strong>Results. </strong>Granulomas and radicular cysts had significantly higher expression of <em>CCL5 </em>and <em>ep300 </em>compared to controls (P<0.05). However, no differences were observed when comparing granulomas and radicular cysts. ROC analyses showed that <em>CCL5 </em>and <em>ep300 </em>have good diagnostic accuracy, but low accuracy for distinguishing between the lesions.</p><p><strong>Conclusions. </strong>This study confirmed that expression of <em>CCL5 </em>and <em>ep300 </em>is relevant for the pathogenesis of periapical inflammatory lesions but cannot be used as a distinctive marker between these lesions.</p>