CRP as an Inflammatory Marker in Oral Rinses

Abstract

Objective: 1) Learn if CRP stimulates production of IL-6 in human leukoplakia cells (MSK-Leuk1). 2) Learn if pioglitazone attenuates CRP stimulation of IL-6 in leukoplakia cells. 3) Establish an oral rinse CRP reference range in controls that can be used in an ongoing trial of leukoplakia patients treated with pioglitazone.

Method: ELISA will be used to measure IL-6 release from MSK-Leuk1 treated with varying concentrations of CRP and pioglitazone. ELISA will be used to measure CRP in oral rinses of control patients. Two-sided t test and ANOVA are used for analysis of results with significance level of 5%.

Results: When treated with CRP (0.001-10 ug/mL), MSK-Leuk1 cells increased IL-6 release in a dose-dependent manner (P < .05). When treated with CRP (0.01-10 ug/mL) and with pioglitazone (10 uM) MSK-Leuk1 cells released a statistically significantly decrease in IL-6 as compared to CRP treatment (P < .05) Oral rinses were easily collected and CRP was measured by ELISA to establish controls for an ongoing study of pioglitazone treatment of leukoplakia and CRP as an affective inflammatory marker.

Conclusion: CRP is now shown to play an active roll in increasing the inflammatory cascade in leukoplakia cells, and pioglitazone attenuates this stimulation as measured by IL-6. The next step is to test CRP in already collected oral rinses of leukoplakia patients before and after treatment with pioglitazone.