Comparison Of Salivary Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha In Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders And Healthy Controls

Abstract

Objective: To compare salivary levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF- α) in cases of oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) with healthy controls.

Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at Histopathology Laboratory of Peshawar Medical College, Peshawar with a comparative cross-sectional study design. A sample of 40 subjects (20 OPMDs cases and 20 healthy controls) was enrolled from two dental hospitals of Peshawar. Salivary TNF- α levels were estimated by ELISA. A proforma was designed to extract the information which was later analyzed using SPSS v21.0. P-value ≤0.05 was taken as significant.

Results:  The mean age of the subjects was 48.25±10.01 years, with 32(80%) males and 8(20%) females. The mean duration of the lesions was 2.33±4.4 years. Among OPMDs cases, 50% each were leukoplakia and lichen planus. Buccal mucosa was found to be the most prevalent site of lesions with 12(60%), followed by the vestibule 5(25%) and alveolar mucosa with 3(15%) cases. The study recorded a significant difference in levels of salivary TNF-α among OPMDs; 11.17±3.39pg/ml and healthy controls; 5.69±2.70pg/ml with a p-value of <0.000.

Conclusion: This study showed salivary TNF-α levels to be higher in subjects with OPMDs as compared to healthy controls. The salivary TNF-α was higher in leukoplakia as compared to OLP cases. Salivary TNF-α can be used as a screening, diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for OPMDs.