The impact of salivary lactoperoxidase and histatin-5 on early childhood caries severity in relation to nutritional status

Abstract

Introduction Early childhood caries is a multifactorial disease. Saliva plays an important role in initiation and protection against caries, and its composition is greatly affected by nutritional status. This study was conducted to determine the impact of salivary lactoperoxidase and histatin-5 on the severity of ECC in relation to nutritional status. Materials and methods The sample consisted of 120 children aged 5 years, classified into eight groups: mild ECC in underweight children, mild ECC in normalweight children, moderate ECC in underweight children, moderate in ECC normal weight children, severe ECC in underweight children, severe ECC in normalweight, caries-free (control) underweight children and caries-free normalweight children. Each group consisted of 15 children. Stimulated saliva was collected. Salivary lactoperoxidase was analysed using Human LPO/ Lactoperoxidase ELISA Kit (CLIA)-LS-F29892, and salivary histatin-5 was analysed using Human Histatin-5 ELISA Kit MBS705083_48T. Results Lactoperoxidase and histatin-5 concentrations were significantly higher in caries-free children than in children with ECC, and they were higher in children with mild ECC than in children with moderate ECC or in children with severe ECC. They were significantly higher among children with normal weight than among those who were underweight (p < 0.01). ECC and nutritional status recorded non-significant interactions with both LPO and HST-5 (p > 0.01), but there was significant interaction between these two variables and LPO and HST-5 together (p < 0.01). The Pearson's correlation coefficient test recorded significant negative correlations between ECC severity and both salivary lactoperoxidase and histatin-5 among the eight study groups, whereas significant positive correlations were recorded between BMI values and both salivary lactoperoxidase and histatin-5 among the eight study groups. Conclusion Salivary lactoperoxidase and histatin-5 may be affected by nutritional status, and these two parameters may play an important role in caries prevention at high concentrations. There is interaction between these two parameters and ECC severity and nutrition.

Untargeted metabolomics of saliva in caries-active and caries-free children in the mixed dentition

“…It can be hypothesized that the increase in histamine may be due to the increase in histidine, and the increase in histidine my be caused by the enhanced hydrolysis of histatins, since histatins is a histidine-rich homologous polypeptide. Our results are consistent with the findings from a study of Munther et al, which revealed decreased histatin-4 concentrations in the saliva of caries-active children ( Munther, 2020 ). However, further studies are needed to confirm the aforementioned hypothesis, i.e.…”

“…Salivary histatins are a family of histidine-rich cationic homologous polypeptides with similar amino acid sequences, which are considered to be important components of non-immune host defense system in the oral cavity. Studies have confirmed that the concentrations of slivary histatin-5 was associated with the severity of caries, histatin-5 concentrations in saliva of children without caries was significantly higher than that of children with caries, which decreased gradually with the increase in caries severity ( Munther, 2020 ). Therefore, it is believed that salivary histatin-5 can be applied in the prevention and treatment of caries, especially in children with caries [ Jurczak et al., 2015 ; Munther, 2020 ).…”

“…Studies have confirmed that the concentrations of slivary histatin-5 was associated with the severity of caries, histatin-5 concentrations in saliva of children without caries was significantly higher than that of children with caries, which decreased gradually with the increase in caries severity ( Munther, 2020 ). Therefore, it is believed that salivary histatin-5 can be applied in the prevention and treatment of caries, especially in children with caries [ Jurczak et al., 2015 ; Munther, 2020 ). Krzysciak et al.…”

Salivary Antimicrobial Peptide Histatin-5 Does Not Display Zn(II)-Dependent or -Independent Activity against Streptococci

“…To date, there is no consensus as to whether histatin levels in saliva correlate with infection levels in the oral cavity. Comparisons of children or adult patients with and without dental caries have found no variation in salivary histatin levels, , higher salivary histatin levels in patients with caries, , and lower salivary histatin levels in patients with caries. − Similarly, there is no clear correlation between histatin levels and the prevalence of oral C. albicans in healthy people but high histatin levels do correlate with high prevalence of oral candidiasis in immunocompromised patients .…”

The multifaceted roles of antimicrobial peptides in oral diseases

“…Natural antimicrobial peptides are potential biomarkers because deregulation of antimicrobial peptides can affect the caries risk (Jurczak et al, 2015;Munther, 2020) or are genetic susceptibility markers of caries (Slebioda et al, 2020;Wu et al, 2020). It is suggested that a positive correlation exists between the salivary hBD-2 level and caries progression (Jurczak et al, 2015).…”