SPLUNC expression in saliva of patients undergoing chemotherapy

Author(s)

Lara Maria Alencar Ramos

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba
• Defense date: 2013-09-08

Examining board members

Luis Carlos Spolidorio; Sérgio Vitorino Cardoso; Pablo Agustin Vargas; Maria Elvira Pizzigatti Corrêa

• Advisor: Márcio Ajudarte Lopes

Abstract

Chemotherapy is one of the treatments used to cure cancer, and have as a principle the use of drugs that alter the metabolism of neoplastic cells leading to cell death. Despite of the benefits of chemotherapy, the drugs also affect normal cells and cause side effects that directly affect the quality of life of patients. Such effects in the oral cavity can be classified as acute (mucositis, hyposalivation, candidosis, herpes) occur during the treatment, and late (hyposalivation) occur after completion of treatment. Mucositis is the most important acute side effect, and mainly causes pain and dysphagia. Besides the change in the amount of saliva, chemotherapy also alters the saliva composition, predisposing oral tissues to some collateral effects. Proteins SPLUNC (short palate, lung and nasal epithelium clone) were identified in salivary glands, saliva, fluid from the airways and other tissues, with a possible role in the innate immune system in these regions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the expression of proteins SPLUNC1 and SPLUNC2A with the presence of side effects such as mucositis and hyposalivation during chemotherapy, as well as the quantification of these proteins before, during and after treatment. Were performed three collections of whole saliva in 20 healthy subjects, 20 patients undergoing conventional chemotherapy and 15 patients undergoing conditioning regimens prior to autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and proteins were evaluated by western blotting. We observed a significant change in the quality of saliva during chemotherapy, characterized by increased expression of SPLUNC1, but it was not observed any association with worsening of hyposalivation and mucositis (AU)