Circulating promyelocytes and low levels of CD16 expression on polymorphonuclear leukocytes accompany early-onset periodontitis.

Early-onset periodontitis (EOP) is characterized by rapidly progressive alveolar bone loss, chemotactic defects of neutrophils, and significant familial aggregation. We found immature myeloid lineage cells, defined as promyelocytes, in the peripheral blood in patients with EOP. A hematological examination of peripheral blood cells showed normal reference values regarding cell proportions. Flow cytometry revealed significantly lower expression of CD16, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored protein, on peripheral neutrophils in patients compared with those in age- and sex-matched healthy controls, whereas the levels of CD11a and CD11b expression were similar. The chemotactic response of neutrophils was lower toward not only formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine but also complement fragment C5a than that of healthy controls. The expression of another GPI-anchored protein, CD14, was equally expressed by controls and patients. Therefore, the low level of CD16 expression was not due to the incomplete synthesis of the GPI anchor. GPI anchors of CD16 on neutrophils from controls and patients were both partially resistant to phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C. The presence of promyelocytes in peripheral blood, low expression of CD16, and low chemotactic response of neutrophils suggest that patients with EOP have an abnormal maturation system in myeloid lineage cells in the bone marrow, which may be associated with the onset and course of EOP.