Abstract:
A total of 130 specimens from 50 periodontitis patients and 30 periodontal
healthy controls, varying from 19-72 years of age, were collected at the Faculty of
Dentistry, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand, during March 2001 to November
2002. Among the periodontitis patients, the specimens were collected from test sites
(probing depth ≥ 5mm.) and control sites (probing depth ≤ 3 mm.). This study was
aimed at investigating the relationship between Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection in
periodontitis patients and at determining the applicability of the immunostaining
method to detect the presence of EBV. The specimens were examined for the
presence of EBV employing the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and
immunostaining methods . Complementary DNAs corresponding to EBNA genes
were amplified with specific primers during the PCR. The immunostaining method
was performed by employing monoclonal antibodies (EBNA-2) for EBV. No positive
cases of EBV were found from either the PCR or the immunostaining method. The
results in this study clearly showed that EBV infection was not associated with
periodontitis and that the immunostaining method is highly simplified method for
EBV detection.