Reduced chemotactic peptide binding in juvenile periodontitis: A model for neutrophil function

Chemotactic peptide binding sites from peripheral blood neutrophils of Localized Juvenile Periodontitis patients and normal controls were quantitated using tritiated N-formylmethionylleucyl-phenylalanine and a rapid filtration assay. It was found that there is a significant reduction in the number of binding sites per cell on neutrophils from the patient group whereas binding affinity remained the same as control values. A direct correlation between in vitro neutrophil chemotactic response and density of binding sites was found. Since these patients present little clinical illness, localized juvenile periodontitis can be a valuable model for the study of human neutrophil function.