The effect of Caries, Periodontitis and Substance abuse on Salivary Interleukin - 6 levels

Abstract

Objective: Earlystage diagnosis of oral cancer will help in complete control of the progression of the lesion.Salivary biomarker analysis is a non-invasive and inexpensive method in the early detection of oral cancer. Materials and Methods: The study aimed at the detection of the changes of salivary IL-6 in caries, periodontitis and substance abuse. Sociodemographic details, habits like tobacco and alcohol abuse were recorded. Clinical factors like caries and periodontal status of subjects were assessed using dentition status and treatment need index and modified CPITN index, respectively. Whole unstimulated saliva was collected and IL-6 estimated using ELISA. Mann Whitney U test was used to compare between clinical groups and demographic variables using ANOVA. Result:The median and mean baseline salivary IL-6 value of the 48 samples were 4.13 and 5.998 ±2.76 pg/ml. Subjects with substance abuse had highest median: 6.82 pg/ml (IQR: 4.871-13.110) and mean values:15.073 ±15.47pg/ml. The median of other groups,caries- 3.53, periodontitis- 4.2 and normal- 4.0, pg/ml respectively. ROC analysis showed AUC for the substance abuse and normal was 78 (sensitivity 71% specificity 82%) substance abuse and all groups was 75 (sensitivity 86% specificity 61%). The cut off was 6.41and 4.2 pg/ml respectively. Conclusion: Based on the higher AUC value, salivary IL-6 levels of more than 6.41pg/ml can be taken as cutoff for clinical evaluation with higher potential for malignant change. The fact that cases with periodontitis did not show a statistically significant difference in IL-6 levels when compared to substance abuse, needs further consideration. Key words: Caries, Interleukin-6, Periodontitis, Salivary biomarkers, Substance abuse.