title: Oral submucous fibrosis patients have altered levels of cytokine production.
abstract: Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a pre-malignant fibrotic lesion of the mouth in betel quid chewers and is characterised by dense bands of collagen in the juxta-epithelial region preceded by inflammation. We have investigated the spontaneous and stimulated production of cytokines by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from OSF patients and compared them with genetically-related relatives, Indian and Caucasian control subjects. The cytokines studied included: interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). The results show: a) significant differences in the stimulated versus non-stimulated levels of IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-alpha but not of IFN-gamma production by patients, and in the relatives' stimulated versus non-stimulated levels of IL-1beta, IL-6 and IFN-gamma; b) no difference in the spontaneous cytokine production between any two groups; and c) significant increases in the patients' stimulated cytokines compared to the Caucasian and Indian controls (P< or =0.050). These results demonstrate increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines and reduced anti-fibrotic IFN-gamma in patients with OSF, which may be central to the pathogenesis of OSF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Eastman Dental Institute for Oral Health Care Sciences, London, UK.
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Haque
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meghji
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Khitab
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D001114:Areca / Q000009:adverse effects; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000097:blood; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood; D009914:Oral Submucous Fibrosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006113:United Kingdom; D044465:White People
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D007375:Interleukin-1; D015850:Interleukin-6; D016209:Interleukin-8; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D007371:Interferon-gamma