Caries and ABO secretor status in a Hungarian population of children and adolescents: an exploratory study

Secretor Status of ABO Antigens in Saliva of a Defined Group of Iranian Patients with Pemphigus Vulgaris: A Case-Control Study

INTRODUCTION

Pemphigus is a chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disease which can cause blisters and mucocutaneous erosions. ABO secretor refers to those who secrete ABO blood group antigens based on their blood type in body fluids such as saliva, sweat, tears, semen, and serum. Previous studies showed that nonsecretor people are more prone to certain autoimmune diseases.

AIM

The aim of this study was to determine the ABO secretor status in the saliva of patients with pemphigus vulgaris.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This case-control study was conducted on 35 patients with pemphigus vulgaris and 35 healthy controls. The two groups were matched for age and gender. Pemphigus vulgaris diagnosis was confirmed by histopathology and direct immunofluorescence microscopy. ABO blood grouping was done, and 5 ml of unstimulated saliva was collected to determine secretor status. Secretors were recognized from nonsecretors by the Wiener agglutination inhibition test. Results were extracted by using statistical chi-square and Fisher's exact tests.

RESULTS

16 male and 19 female patients aged 49.43 ± .12.37 years were compared with 16 male and 19 female controls aged 46.43 ± 11.88 years. The most frequent blood group among case and control groups was O (54.3% and 60%, respectively). There was no significant difference in blood groups (P=0.73). 90% of the samples were ABO secretors. The patient group included 31 (88.6%) and the control group included 32 (91.4%) ABO secretors; there was no significant difference between the two groups (P=1.000).

CONCLUSION

In this study, we observed that the people with nonsecretor status in comparison with the people with secretor status are not more susceptible to develop pemphigus vulgaris.

Salivary Secretor Status of Blood Group Antigens in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer

BACKGROUND:

Head and neck cancers include malignancies of the scalp and neck skin, nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses, oral cavity, salivary glands, pharynx and larynx. The term ABO secretor refers to people who secrete blood group antigens in their body fluids such as saliva, sweat, tears, semen, and serum. Non-secretors refer to those who do not secrete their blood group antigens in their body fluids. The lack of blood type antigens in body discharge increases the susceptibility to certain types of diseases and infection.

AIM:

Our study aimed to investigate the relationship between the secretion of blood groups in the saliva of patients with head and neck cancers.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

This case-control study was performed on 110 people (57 patients with head and neck cancer who were referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran and 53 cancer-free controls). Five ml of non-stimulated saliva were collected by the spitting method. By agglutination or lack of agglutination in the test tubes, we determined the patient’s secretor or non-secretor condition.

RESULTS:

In terms of secretor status, 52.7% of all samples were secretors. In the case group, 19 out of 57 cases (33.3%) were secretors, and 38 were non-secretors (66.7%). In the control group, 39 out of 53 cases (73.6%) were secretors, and 14 cases were non-secretors (26.4%). There was a significant difference in the percentage of non-secretors between the two groups (p = 0.00).

CONCLUSION:

People with non-secretor status may be more prone to develop head and neck cancer. The presence of these antigens in saliva may have a protective effect.

Evaluation of Salivary Secretor Status of Blood Group Antigens in Patients with Oral Lichen Planus

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the relationship between secretion or nonsecretion of blood group antigens into the saliva and oral lichen planus (OLP).

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

In this study, 30 patients (women: 22, men: 8) with OLP were examined as the case group and 30 subjects without OLP matched for age and gender as the control group. Diagnosis of OLP was confirmed by clinical and histopathological examinations according to WHO criteria. The control group was randomly selected from healthy individuals without pathological oral changes seeking dental treatment. In both groups, blood group type was determined by hemagglutination, and unstimulated saliva was collected using the Navazesh technique. Establishment of salivary secretor status was carried out using the Wiener agglutination test. The data were analyzed using a Χ2 test, Fisher's exact test, and logistic regression.

RESULTS

The patients with OLP (cases), including 22 (36.7%) women and 8 (13.3%) men with a mean age of 51 ± 14.16 years, were compared with healthy subjects (controls), comprised of 25 (41.7%) women and 5 (8.3%) men with a mean age of 50.7 ± 13.56 years. A large majority of the people examined in both groups were secretors of blood group A. On the other hand, most OLP patients were blood group B. In the case group, 25 subjects (84.4%) were secretors and 5 (16.6%) were nonsecretors. In the control group, 24 subjects (80.0%) were secretors and 6 (20.0%) were nonsecretors. There was no significant difference between the case and control groups for secretor status (p = 0.73).

CONCLUSION

The present study did not indicate a significant difference in salivary secretor status between OLP patients compared to controls.