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. 2023 Mar-Apr;13(2):267-271.
doi: 10.1016/j.jobcr.2023.02.008. Epub 2023 Feb 17.

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies and inflammatory cytokines in saliva-a pilot study

S Wadhwa  1 , A J Yoon  2 , K Kister  1 , I Bolin  1 , N Chintalapudi  1 , A Besmer  1 , A Cantos  3 , J Shah  3 , S K Gaitonde  4 , S W Granger  4 , C Bryce  4 , R Fischer  4 , S B Eisig  5 , M T Yin  3
Affiliations

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies and inflammatory cytokines in saliva-a pilot study

S Wadhwa et al. J Oral Biol Craniofac Res. 2023 Mar-Apr.

Erratum in

Abstract

Objective: The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to have a profound effect worldwide. However, COVID-19 induced oral facial manifestations have not been fully described. We conducted a prospective study to demonstrate feasibility of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and inflammatory cytokine detection in saliva. Our primary objective was to determine whether COVID-19 PCR positive patients with xerostomia or loss of taste had altered serum or saliva cytokine levels compared to COVID-19 PCR positive patients without those oral symptoms. Our secondary objective was to determine the correlation between serum and saliva COVID-19 antibody levels.

Materials and methods: For cytokine analysis, saliva and serum were obtained from 17 participants with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection at three sequential time points, yielding 48 saliva samples and 19 paired saliva-serum samples from 14 of the 17 patients. For COVID-19 antibody analyses, an additional 27 paired saliva-serum samples from 22 patients were purchased.

Results: The saliva antibody assay had 88.64% sensitivity [95% Confidence Interval (CI) 75.44%, 96.21%] to detect SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies compared to serum antibody. Among the inflammatory cytokines assessed - IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-1β, IL-8, IL-13, IL-2, IL-5, IL-7 and IL-17A, xerostomia correlated with lower levels of saliva IL-2 and TNF-α, and elevated levels of serum IL-12p70 and IL-10 (p < 0.05). Loss of taste was observed in patients with elevated serum IL-8 (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Further studies are needed to construct a robust saliva-based COVID-19 assay to assess antibody and inflammatory cytokine response, which has potential utility as a non-invasive monitoring modality during COVID-19 convalescence.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Inflammation; Oral-systemic disease(s); Saliva; Xerostomia.

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