Long-term change of disease behavior in Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome: seven years follow-up.

Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome (PLS) is an autosomal recessive disease, characterized by severe periodontitis and palmoplantar hyperkeratosis. Mutations in the cathepsin C (CTSC) gene are the causative genetic factor. PLS starts at very early age, however, the age associated change of PLS has never been characterized. In this report, four PLS patients with CTSC mutations were followed up for seven years, periodontal condition and serum immunoglobulins (Igs) were recorded. Results showed that periodontal inflammation of PLS peaked at teenage years, but declined with time. At the same time the serum IgE change was consistent with the change, suggesting the possibility of using IgE as a monitoring index for PLS inflammation level, or to develop new target for therapy.