engleski

Salivary interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor α in patients with recurrent aphthous ulceration

Background: Recurrent apthous ulceration (RAU) is a well known oral disease which seems to be mediated principally by the immune system. However, it is still a matter of debate which part of the immune system is implicated in its pathogenesis as a reaction to the still unknown antigen. The aim of this study was to evaluate salivary cytokines, interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-&#945; ) in RAU patients. Methods: In 26 patients with minor RAU, age range 23-49, mean 27.3 yrs, during both the acute phase and remission and in 26 healthy controls, age range 22-64, mean 30.1 yrs., salivary IL-6 and TNF-&#945; levels were determined by use of ELISA. Statistical analysis was performed by use of descriptive statistics. Results: Significant differences in salivary TNF-&#945; between healthy controls and patients with acute RAU and during the remission period were found (p<0.001) as well as between patients with acute RAU and those during the remission period (p<0.001). No differences in salivary IL-6 between all three groups could be found. Conclusions: We might conclude that elevated salivary TNF-&#945; levels during acute RAU and especially during the remission period are of importance in RAU, whereas salivary IL-6 levels seem not to play a role in the RAU disease. Relevance: Salivary TNF-&#945; could be used as marker of disease activity in RAU patients. However, further studies on larger number of patients are required.

recurrent aphthous ulcerations; interleukin 6; tumor necrosis factor alpha; saliva

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