Salivary Transferrin Levels in Patients with Oral Lichen Planus

ABSTRACT

Objective: To compare salivary transferrin levels between patients with oral lichen planus (OLP) and healthy subjects. Material and Methods: In this descriptive, analytical, crosssectional study, 11 patients with OLP and 22 healthy subjects were selected after matching in terms of age and gender. OLP was confirmed by two oral medicine specialists based on clinical and histopathological criteria. Salivary samples were collected by spitting. The patients were asked to collect their saliva in their oral cavity and then evacuate it into sterilized Falcon tubes. The procedure was repeated every 60 seconds for 5-15 minutes. A total of 5 mL of saliva was collected using this method. The samples were collected from 8 to 9 in the morning in a fasting state to avoid circadian changes. The collected salivary samples were immediately placed next to ice and transferred to the laboratory to be centrifuged at 4°C at 800 g to isolate squamous cells and cellular debris. Then the samples were frozen at -80°C until the samples were prepared. An ELISA kit was used to determine salivary transferrin levels. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and t-test for independent groups using SPSS 17. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Results: The mean salivary transferrin concentrations in patients with OLP and healthy subjects were 0.9055±0.28229 and 1.5932±0.80041 mg/dL, respectively (p<0.05). Conclusion: The salivary transferrin levels in patients with OLP were significantly lower than those in healthy subjects.