Background: The aim of the present study was to perform an immunophenotypic analysis of human gingival fibroblast cells and its eventual modulation by Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor (GM-CSF).
Methods: Gingival fibroblasts were derived from gingival biopsy of 15 healthy subjects. The presence of fibroblast cells in culture and the absence of epithelial cells was performed with fluorescence microscopy using vimentin and cytokeratin markers, respectively. Molecular expression of gingival fibroblast cell membrane was carried out with monoclonal antibodies by flow cytometry analysis. Human recombinant GM-CSF at the concentration of 200 ng/ml was used for the in vitro stimulation of gingival fibroblasts. Statistical analysis was performed using the Student "t"-test.
Results: Human gingival fibroblasts express a wide surface molecular panel including mainly CD59, CD99, CD9, CD95, CD55, CD63, CD26, CD117, CD71 and CD86. The GM-CSF seems to regulate the CD49B expression positively and the CD40 and CD103 expression negatively.
Conclusions: Results show that GM-CSF is able to modulate the in vitro expression of some membrane molecules of gingival fibroblasts and therefore it may regulate, in vivo, peculiar specific biological functions of gingival tissue.