Vanja Vučićević-Boras

Salivary and serum interleukin 1 beta, interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha in patients with leukoplakia and oral cancer

Objectives: The aim of study was to compare salivary and serum concentrations of interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in patients with oral leukoplakia, oral cancer and healthy controls. Study design: Eighty eight patients (28 with oral cancer, 29 leukoplakia, and 31 healthy controls) were included in this study. Cytokine concentrations were measured by commercial enzyme linked immunoassay. Results: Salivary IL-1β and IL-6 were significantly higher in oral cancer patients than in patients with leukoplakia and control group (p<0.05). No differences in concentrations of salivary TNF-α between either of the groups were observed. Serum concentrations of IL-1β were below level of detection in all but two participants. No significant differences between the groups were observed in serum concentrations of IL-6. Serum TNF-α was significantly higher in control subjects than in oral cancer patients. Conclusions: Patients with oral cancer have elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines in their saliva. Whether this elevation can be used for monitoring the malignant transformation of oral leukoplakia remains to be answered by further follow up studies. Key words: Cytokines, oral, leukoplakia, cancer.

Oral lichen planus – retrospective study of 563 Croatian patients

Objectives: To investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of oral lichen planus (OLP) in a group of Croatian patients seen between 2006 and 2012. Study Design: A group of 563 patients with a diagnosis of OLP was retrospectively reviewed in our clinic. Data regarding age, gender, medical history, drugs, smoking, alcohol, chief complaint, clinical type, localization, histology, treatment and malignant transformation were registered. Results: Of the 563 patients, 414 were females and 149 were males. The average age at the diagnosis was 58 (range 11-94). The most common site was buccal mucosa (82.4%). Most of our patients did not smoke (72.5%) or consume alcohol (69.6%). Patients reported oral soreness (43.3%), mucosal roughness (7%), xerostomia (3%), gingival bleeding (2%) and altered taste (0.5%) as the chief complaint, while almost half of them were asymptomatic (44.2%). The most common types of OLP were reticular (64.8%) and erosive (22.9%). Plaque-like (5.7%) atrophic/erythemtous (4.3%) and bullous (2.3%) type were also observed. Malignant transformation rate of 0.7% was recorded. Conclusions: OLP mostly affects non-smoking middle-aged women. Buccal mucosa is the most commonly affected site. In almost half of the cases patients are asymptomatic. In spite of the small risk for malignant transformation all patients should be regularly monitored. Key words:Oral lichen planus, malignant transformation, epidemiology, retrospective study.

Evaluation of pretreatment serum interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor alpha as a potential biomarker for recurrence in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma

Background Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) constitutes 3 percent of all cancers with predominant occurrence in middle aged and elderly males. Tumour recurrence worsens disease prognosis and decreases quality of life in patients with OSCC. Proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) have been suggested to play a certain role in variety of tumours. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of pretreatment serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels on tumour recurrence in patients with OSCC in order to identify potential biomarkers for the early detection of disease recurrence. Material and Methods The patients with newly diagnosed OSCC were treated and followed from the first visit from November 2006 until January 2008. Serum IL-6 and TNF-α concentrations were measured. The records of the patients were re-examined in July 2012 and data were recorded about cancer characteristics and tumour recurrence. Disease free survival was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier survival curves, log rank test and Cox proportional hazards regression. Results Serum IL-6 was shown as an independent risk factor for tumour recurrence. Conclusions Pretreatment serum IL-6 concentration may be a useful biomarker for identification of OSCC patients with increased risk of the disease recurrence. Key words: Serum IL-6, serum TNF-α, oral cancer, recurrence.

Non-aromatic naphthalane preparation; preliminary clinical study in the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris.

This study aimed to prove the similarity of the composition of non-aromatic Croatian naphthalane (NAN) with brown naphthalane (BN), which is used in the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris. The comparison of the compositions was performed by obtaining GC fingerprints, which were supported by GC-MS data. In spite of remarkable differences in general profiles of the GC chromatograms, lower and medium molecular weight components of NAN were found to be qualitatively the same as the saturated constituents of BN. Quantitatively, lower molecular weight components as well as all n-alkanes were comparatively lower in NAN. NAN, additionally, contained higher molecular weight components, among which there were saturated oligocyclic hydrocarbons (up to pentakishomohopanes), described as responsible for the curing effect of naphthalane. The composition characteristics of NAN including its non-aromatic character made it suitable for a clinical study. In the treatment, the efficacy was determined by means of comparison of Psoriasis Area Severity Indices, PASI, at the beginning and at the end of the therapy. Adult volunteer-patients, nine males and six females, applied NAN over the whole body, except the scalp, at the room temperature for 20 min and this was followed by the selective UVB radiation. After the 3-week therapy, all essential clinical manifestations as erythema, desquamation and infiltration were significantly reduced in 14 patients; in nine cases the improvement was 50-93%, while the state of five patients improved between 25 and 50%. In one case, there was no obvious change. No exacerbation occurred during the therapy period. No adverse effect on hematological or biochemical parameters was noticed.

Application of Diode Laser in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Laser devices have gained in importance since the eighties and they are often claimed to be omni-use instruments. Though many applications turned out to be almost impracticable, an unaltered interest in laser technology has remained to date. The broad spectrum of applications for the diode laser means that it is now the most widely used device in laser dentistry. Diode lasers offer an interesting – but not unlimited – field of application in modern dentistry: oral and maxillofacil surgery and endodontic surgery.

Evaluation of tumour markers in patients with burning mouth syndrome

Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is an enigmatous condition both for the patient and the clinician, and is diagnosed on the basis of the patients symptoms when they have on examination an apparently healthy looking oral mucosa. A variety of local and systemic factors are known to contribute to burning mouth syndrome. Some authors reported that underlying malignancy could be a possible cause for BMS. In 23 patients with burning mouth syndrome as well as in 20 age, sex, and race matched healthy controls levels of tumour markers-CEA, CA 19-9, AFP, and CYFRA 21-1-were determined from sera. Immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) for detection of ELSA-CEA, ELSA-CA 19-9, ELSA 2-AFP, ELSA-CYFRA 21-1 (CIS bio international, ORIS group, France) was used. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences in the level of tumour markers CEA, CA 19-9, AFP, CYFRA 21-1 in patients with burning mouth syndrome when compared to the healthy controls. We can conclude that evaluation of tumour markers in patients with burning mouth syndrome is not useful and in terms of cost-benefit this investigation should not be performed in patients with burning mouth syndrome.