ELISA test for p63 antibodies in chronic ulcerative stomatitis.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a novel test for chronic ulcerative stomatitis (CUS), a chronic immunologically mediated condition that produces oral ulcerations. Current diagnostic methods require expensive and technically demanding in situ immunofluorescence (IF) studies.


METHODS
An Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) was prepared and tested with serum samples from patients with CUS and negative controls.


METHODS
The N-terminal portion of the CUS autoantigen, DeltaNp63alpha, was produced as a purified recombinant protein and used to coat ELISA plates. Sera from 25 patients with CUS and 16 negative controls were analyzed for reactive antibodies. The optimal cut-offs for positive and negative samples were determined.


METHODS
The optimal cut-off of 0.236 resulted in a sensitivity and specificity of the ELISA of 0.80 and 0.75, respectively (exact 95% confidence intervals, P-value of <0.001).


RESULTS
The ELISA developed in this study provides a novel and reliable diagnostic assessment to distinguish CUS from other oral ulcerative diseases.


CONCLUSIONS
Immunoassay will allow the true incidence and prevalence of CUS to be determined in future studies. When combined with clinical correlations, the ELISA results will facilitate the evaluation of the prognostic utility of antibody titers and allow correlation with treatment responses in individual CUS cases.
Solomon
L W
LW
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, School of Dental Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111-1527, USA. lynn.solomon@tufts.edu
Stark
P C
PC
Winter
L
L
Kumar
V
V
Sinha
S
S
D000906:Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005892:Gingivitis, Necrotizing Ulcerative / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D014157:Transcription Factors; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology
D000906:Antibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C115051:TP63 protein, human; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins