Oral Ulceration in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in Iraqi Patients and the Levels of Serum Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A

Abstract

The aim of this study was to estimate the levels of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VGEF-A) among systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with and without oral ulceration in Iraqi sample.The study took place in Mirjan teaching hospital in Hilla city, Babylon (Rheumatology unit) during the period from May 2018 till January 2019. All the subjects were from the same ethnic group (Arabic) and were from the same geographical region. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 1997 criteria of SLE was used for diagnosis of SLE. A total of 52 SLE patients and 31 control subjects were recruited for this study.The mean age of SLE patients was (30±9.57) years, while for control subjects was (29±9.44) years, and female to male ratio was (12:1), oral ulcerations was found in 24(46.15%) SLE patients, most of patients were with multiple oral ulcers (54.17%) and with non-painful oral ulcer (62.5%). The mean of serum level of VEGF was found significantly higher (p value 0.001) in SLE patients (142.89±24.37 pg/ml) than control (79.61±12.71pg/ml), and significantly higher in non-painful oral ulcerations than with painful ulcerations (p value 0.04). No significant differences in the level of serum VEGF-A found between patients with oral ulceration (P+OU) and patients without oral ulceration (P-OU).Oral ulceration associated with SLE usually painless, multiple, nonspecific, and most common sites were tongue and labial mucosa. Serum VEGF-A in SLE patients was significantly higher than in than control.