Change of serum tumor necrosis factor level in patients with recurrent oral ulcer and its clinical significance

    ZHANG Lin, LI Qin, ZHANG Tao, GUO Wenª²Ju

    1Department of Stomatology, People¬ðs Hospital of Shaanxi Province, Xi¬ðan 710068, China, 2Department of Stomatology, Central Hospital of Xi¬ðan City, Xi¬ðan 710003, China, 3First Affiliated Hospital, Medical College, Xi¬ðan Jiaotong University, Xi¬ðan 710061, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To investigate the changes of tumor necrosis factor ¦Á (TNFª²¦Á) in patients with recurrent oral ulcer (ROU) and its clinical significance. METHODS: Serum levels of TNFª²¦Á in 56 patients (male 18, female 38, aged 17ª²60 years) with ROU were determined by doubleª²antibody sandwich ELISA, and 8 of them underwent pathological examination. Twentyª²five healthy individuals served as controls. RESULTS: Of the 8 cases undergoing pathological examination, 7 showed the inflammatory infiltration of lymphocytes, plasma cells and mononuclear macrophages, and the other 1 showed hyperplasia. The mean serum TNFª²¦Á level in ROU patients (51.4¡À6.6)¦Ìg/L was significantly higher than that in the controls(8.8¡À1.2)¦Ìg/L (P<0.01) and the serum TNFª²¦Á level of patients with moderate (n=28, P<0.05) and severe (n=14, P<0.01) ROU was significantly higher than that of patients with mild ROU (n=14, P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The serum TNFª²¦Á level in ROU patients is significantly increased, which indicates that TNFª²¦Á may play a role in the pathogenesis of ROU. ......