Expresión tisular y niveles séricos del factor de crecimiento y transformación beta-1 en estomatitis aftosa recurrente

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis is an oral pathology associated with cytokine cascade alterations. Transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGFβ-1) is of the uttermost importance in this cascade. Hence, oral mucosal expression and serum levels of TGFβ-1 in patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis were investigated. Nine patients with a diagnosis of recurrent aphthous stomatitis, in acute or remission phase, and five healthy controls were selected. Tissue expression (oral mucosal punch) and serum levels of this cytokine were determined using immunohistochemistry and ELISA techniques. TGFβ-1 was expressed in 100% of patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis in epithelium, submucous and endothelium. In the control group, 40% of the cases expressed TGFβ-1 in endothelium and 100% in submucous and epithelium. The percentage of cases with recurrent aphthous stomatitis and strong endothelial expression of TGFβ-1 was significantly higher (P<0.05) than those with moderated and weak expression. The intensity of expression in the control group was weak in all layers. Serum levels of TGFβ-1 were significantly higher in patients than in the healthy control group (P <0.05). An alteration of systemic or local regulation of the synthesis or liberation of this cytokine could be implicated in the pathogenesis of recurrent aphthous stomatitis