IL-12Rbeta2 SNPs could be useful as genetic markers to access the susceptibility of the general population to periodontal disease. Low CMI responses or high humoral responses are associated with the pathogenesis of inflammatory periodontal diseases.

The HLA-II-induced IL-8, via CXCR1, as well as MCP-1 from GF, promotes endothelial cell proliferation, which is possibly associated with enhanced angiogenesis in chronic periodontal lesions.

Focal adhesion kinase is structurally associated with human leukocyte antigen-DR and mediates human leukocyte antigen class II-induced signals in gingival fibroblasts.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 5' flanking region of IL12RB2 are frequently detected in lepromatous leprosy patients, and may be possible immunogenetic factors that reduce transcriptional activity of the IL-12Rbeta2 gene in Jurkat T cells. This study determined the functional effects of these SNPs on NK-cell activity, including IFN-gamma production and IL-12Rbeta2 gene expression. Reporter gene assays using the NK cell line NK3.3 revealed that transcriptional activities of the variant haplotypes were significantly higher in the NK cell line, in contrast to our previous results in Jurkat T cells. IFN-gamma production in activated T cells from donors was significantly lower than in cells from donors without the variant SNPs, while NK cells with these SNPs produced significantly higher amounts of IFN-gamma. These results suggest that these SNPs in IL12RB2 have differential effects on cellular activation of T cells and NK cells.