Salivary EGF levels reduced in diabetic patients

Oral problems such as periodontitis are recognized major complications asso ciated with diabetes. Salivary derived growth factors, including epidermal growth factor (EGF), are thought to play a role in helping maintain levels of oral health, promoting wound healing, and maintaining mucosal integrity. In the present study, salivary levels of EGF in diabetic vs. healthy contr ol patients was evaluated. Twenty-one diabetic patients participated in thi s study. Age, race, sex and smoking histories were matched with 21 systemat ically healthy nondiabetic patients. Three milliliters of unstimulated rest ing whole saliva was collected from each patient at 6 h intervals up to 42 h and whole saliva protein concentrations were determined for each sample. EGF concentrations for each sample were quantitated spectrophometrically ut ilizing an immunoassay. Diabetic patients had greater salivary protein conc entrations over 42 h of collection with a mean of 1.502 +/- 0.09 vs. 1.242 +/- 0.05 mg/ml for healthy control patients. The EGF concentration was sign ificantly lower (p < 0.05) for the diabetic patients compared to control pa tients, whether expressed relative to 1 mi volume of saliva (873.43 +/- 106 .5 vs. 1101.09 +/- 116.8 pg/ml) or 1 mg whole saliva protein (629.18 +/- 92 .6 vs. 931.20 +/- 124.6 pg/mg saliva protein). This study suggests that red uced levels of salivary EGF in diabetic patients may contribute to the deve lopment of oral and systemic complications of diabetes, which may have futu re clinical applications. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserve d.