Salivary cytokine profile in patients with ischemic stroke

Abstract

Inflammation plays a crucial role in stroke pathogenesis. Thus, it is not surprising that cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors have been advocated in stroke diagnostics. Our study is the first to evaluate the salivary cytokine profile in patients with ischemic stroke. Twenty-five patients with subacute ischemic stroke and an age-, sex-, and oral hygiene status-matched control group were enrolled in the study. The number of patients was set a priori based on our previous experiment (α = 0.05, test power = 0.9). Salivary concentrations of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and interleukin 10 (IL-10) were assessed using an ELISA method. We showed that salivary TNF-α and IL-6 were significantly higher, whereas IL-10 content was statistically lower in both non-stimulated (NWS) and stimulated (SWS) whole saliva of ischemic stroke patients. However, evaluation of cytokines in NWS rather than in SWS may be of greater diagnostic value. Of particular note is salivary TNF-α, which may indicate cognitive/physical impairment in post-stroke individuals. This parameter distinguishes stroke patients from healthy controls and correlates with cognitive decline and severity of functional impairment. It also differentiates (with high sensitivity and specificity) stroke patients with normal cognition from mild to moderate cognitive impairment. Saliva may be an alternative to blood for assessing cytokines in stroke patients, although further studies on a larger patient population are needed.

Could inflammation contribute to salivary gland dysfunction in patients with chronic heart failure?

“…We demonstrated significantly higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-7), anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1ra, IL-13), Th1 (INF-γ, IL-12, IL-2, IL-15), Th2 (IL-5, IL-6, IL-9), Th17 (IL-17), chemokines (MCP-1/CCL-2, MIP-1α/CCL3, MIP-1β/CCL4, EOTAXIN/CCL11, RANTES/CCL5, IL-8/CXCL8) and growth factors (GM-CSF, VEGF, FGF basic, PDFG-BB) in unstimulated saliva of HF patients compared to the controls. Interestingly, the content of some pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators in saliva significantly exceeds their plasma levels (control: IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-7, IL-1ra, INF-γ, IL-12, IL-4, IL-6, MCP-1/CCL-2, IL-8/CXCL8, GM-CSF, VEGF; HF: IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-7, IL-10, IL-1RA, IL-13, INF-γ, IL-12, IL-4, IL-9, IP-10/CXCL10, MCP-1/CCL-2, IL-8/CXCL8, GM-CSF, VEGF, FGF basic, PDFG-BB), which may confirm previous reports on the production of cytokines, chemokines and growth factors within the salivary glands ( 25 , 44 , 45 ). Indeed, compounds found in saliva can be transported into the oral cavity from plasma via intracellular (passive or specific transport) or extracellular (diffusion or ultrafiltration) routes.…”

Association Between Salivary Cytokines, Chemokines and Growth Factors and Salivary Gland Function in Children with Chronic Kidney Disease

“…Substances in saliva can be synthesized in the salivary glands or transported from the blood by passive or specific transport, or ultrafiltration. 45,46 Although we did not evaluate the inflammatory profile in the plasma/serum of children with CKD, it is well known that most cytokines are not stored, but produced at the target site (salivary glands) in response to an internal or external stimulus. 46,47 Therefore, cytokines in the saliva are most likely of salivary-gland origin.…”

Oxidation, Glycation, and Carbamylation of Salivary Biomolecules in Healthy Children, Adults, and the Elderly: Can Saliva Be Used in the Assessment of Aging?

“… 39 Saliva was collected in the amount of up to 5 mL for no more than 15 minutes. 40 The volume of samples was measured using an automatic pipette calibrated to 0.1 mL. The salivary flow rate was estimated by dividing the saliva volume by the time of gathering it (mL/min).…”