This paper describes a study of whether or not the amounts of interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) are correlated with periodontal clinical measures. A sensitive ELISA was developed to measure IL‐6 in GCF. Two male and 3 female adult subjects with periodontal disease were examined at their first appointments, after 3 months, and after 6 months. Data were obtained on plaque index (PI), bleeding index (BI), probing depth (PD), and on the IL‐6 content of GCF samples from 16 sites per subject for a total of 240 measurements. Significant correlations were found between BI and IL‐6 (P < 0.005) and between PD and IL‐6 (P <0.05), but not between PI and IL6. Only 6 out of the 80 sites (in 3 of the 5 subjects) showed PD increases of at least 2 mm. However, for each of these 3 subjects, the amounts of IL‐6 in the GCF samples from these sites were markedly higher than the mean amounts of IL‐6 in the GCF samples from the remaining sites. These findings suggest that IL‐6 may be a useful indicator of periodontal disease, although more extensive longitudinal studies are needed to determine the real clinical value of this GCF component. J Periodontol 1993; 64:980–983.

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Treponema denticola (Td) and Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) are associated with human moderate and severe adult periodontal diseases. This study quantifies these two anaerobes and their trypsin-like (TL) activities in subgingival plaque collected from both clinically healthy and periodontally diseased sites of human periodontitis patients. Antigen levels of the microorganisms were determined by monoclonal antibodies and TL activities were measured by the fluorescent substrate Z-gly-gly-arg-AFC in a disc format. Significant positive correlations were observed between the antigen levels and the TL activities when the data were subjected to statistical analyses both on a site-specific and on a patient basis. Anaerobe synergism was found between Td and Pg in a continental US population, and positive correlations were found between anaerobe levels (individually and total) and clinical indicators of adult periodontitis.