Saliva as a potential tool for diagnosis and severity classification of dry mouth including Sjogren's syndrome.

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K11256
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Surgical dentistry
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Ohyama Keiko 九州大学, 大学病院, 学術研究員 (60740719)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 森山 雅文 九州大学, 歯学研究院, 助教 (20452774) ; 中村 誠司 九州大学, 歯学研究院, 教授 (60189040)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: シェーグレン症候群 / ドライマウス / 唾液

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Sjogren's syndrome (SS) is an organ-specific autoimmune disease in which the exocrine glands such as salivary glands and lacrimal glands are specifically damaged, and is mainly caused by dry mouth and dry eye. With regard to the diagnostic method, a complicated and highly invasive test is also included, so a simple and repeatable test method is required. Therefore, we focused on saliva that can be collected easily and collected many times, and conducted research with the goal of diagnosing SS and classifying its severity by analyzing its components.
First, analysis of the salivary gland tissue of SS patients showed significant expression of a protein called TLR8, which is involved in autoimmune diseases and induces inflammatory substances, and was suggested to be involved in the onset of SS. We are currently studying the expression in saliva.

Free Research Field

口腔免疫

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

シェーグレン症候群の診断方法に関しては専門機関でしかできない画像検査や口唇腺生検といった侵襲性の高い検査も含まれるため、簡便かつ繰り返し行える検査法が必要である。そこで採取しやすく、何度も採取できる唾液に着目し、その成分を分析する事で診断やその重症度分類を行うことを目標として研究を行った。
まずSS患者の唾液線組織を分析したところ、自己免疫疾患に関与するし炎症性物質を誘発するTLR８というタンパクの有意な発現を認め、SSの発症に関与していることが示唆された。現在唾液中の発現に関しても研究中である。