Liquid chromatography used to analyse saliva in stomatitis patients

Patients with chronic denture stomatitis, a condition that causes painful inflammation in denture wearers, have had their saliva studied using liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry.

The process was used to identify salivary proteins known to have an association with the yeast infection candidiasis, or oral thrush.

In the study, presented at the 88th General Session & Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research, the assessments aimed to compare mucosal gene expression between individuals with stomatitis and their healthy counterparts.

Chronic denture stomatitis is linked with the presence of the parasitic fungus Candida albicans in the mouth, the researchers explain.

A number of genes were found to be upregulated in individuals with Candida albicans present, while 3,034 genes in all were seen to be differentially expressed.

In all, 235 genes were upregulated by a factor of two or more, including a number of chemokines, cytokines and markers of epithelial suppression.