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. 2013 Apr 24;8(4):e61356.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061356. Print 2013.

Salivary biomarkers for detection of systemic diseases

Nilminie Rathnayake  1 , Sigvard Akerman, Björn Klinge, Nina Lundegren, Henrik Jansson, Ylva Tryselius, Timo Sorsa, Anders Gustafsson
Affiliations

Salivary biomarkers for detection of systemic diseases

Nilminie Rathnayake et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background and objective: Analysis of inflammatory biomarkers in saliva could offer an attractive opportunity for the diagnosis of different systemic conditions specifically in epidemiological surveys. The aim of this study was to investigate if certain salivary biomarkers could be used for detection of common systemic diseases.

Materials and methods: A randomly selected sample of 1000 adults living in Skåne, a county in the southern part of Sweden, was invited to participate in a clinical study of oral health. 451 individuals were enrolled in this investigation, 51% women. All participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire, history was taken, a clinical examination was made and stimulated saliva samples were collected. Salivary concentrations of IL-1β, -6, -8, TNF-α, lysozyme, MMP-8 and TIMP-1 were determined using ELISA, IFMA or Luminex assays.

Results: Salivary IL-8 concentration was found to be twice as high in subjects who had experience of tumour diseases. In addition, IL-8 levels were also elevated in patients with bowel disease. MMP-8 levels were elevated in saliva from patients after cardiac surgery or suffering from diabetes, and muscle and joint diseases. The levels of IL-1β, IL-8 and MMP-8, as well as the MMP-8/TIMP-1 ratio were higher in subjects with muscle and joint diseases.

Conclusion: Biomarkers in saliva have the potential to be used for screening purposes in epidemiological studies. The relatively unspecific inflammatory markers used in this study can not be used for diagnosis of specific diseases but can be seen as markers for increased systemic inflammation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Prof. Timo Sorsa, University of Helsinki, Finland, is an inventor of US-Patent #5736341 on/describing/addressing technology on oral fluid diagnostic MMP-8 immunoassay, and this technology has been utilized in their paper. The patent is owned by Oy Medixbiochemica Ab/Ltd, Kauniainen, Finland, and according to the contract between Prof. Timo Sorsa and Medix Biochemica Oy/Ab/Ltd Prof. Timo Sorsa has received royalties from the Medix-company. Prof. Timo Sorsa confirms that this does not alter their adherence to all PLOS ONE polices on sharing data and materials.

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