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Unstimulated Parotid Saliva Sampling in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis and Healthy Controls: A Proof-of-Concept Study
Alexandra Dimitrijevic Carlsson1,2, Bijar Ghafouri3, Carin Starkhammar Johansson1
1Center For Oral Rehabilitation, Torkelbergsgatan 11, 581 85 Linköping, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Science, Linköping University; postal code 581 83 Linköping, Sweden.
Insights
A new method successfully collected unstimulated parotid saliva from children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and healthy controls, enabling the detection of inflammatory biomarkers for potential diagnostic use.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Rheumatology
- Biomarker Discovery
- Salivary Diagnostics
Background:
- Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a complex autoimmune condition requiring effective diagnostic tools.
- Assessing inflammatory markers in children can be challenging due to sample collection difficulties.
- Parotid saliva offers a non-invasive source for potential biomarkers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a method for collecting unstimulated parotid saliva in pediatric populations.
- To determine if inflammatory biomarkers can be detected in saliva samples from children with JIA.
- To compare salivary parameters between JIA patients and healthy children.
Main Methods:
- A modified Carlson-Crittenden collector was used for unstimulated parotid saliva collection.
- Salivary flow rate, total protein, and inflammatory mediator concentrations were measured.
- Meso Scale Discovery electrochemiluminescence immunoassay analyzed biomarker concentrations.
Main Results:
- The developed method successfully collected sufficient parotid saliva volumes from children.
- Juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients exhibited lower saliva volumes and flow rates compared to controls.
- Quantifiable concentrations of 39 inflammatory proteins were detected in the collected saliva samples.
Conclusions:
- The saliva collection method is effective for pediatric samples.
- Inflammatory biomarkers are detectable in unstimulated parotid saliva from children.
- This approach holds promise for non-invasive JIA biomarker assessment.
Abstract:
The aims of this proof-of-concept study were to develop a collecting method for unstimulated parotid saliva in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients and healthy children and to investigate if inflammatory biomarkers could be detected in these samples. Forty-five children with JIA (median age of 12 years and 25th-75th percentile of 10-15 years; 33 girls and 12 boys) and 16 healthy children as controls (median age of 13 years and 25-75th percentile of 10-13 years; 11 girls and 5 boys) were enrolled in this study. Unstimulated parotid saliva was collected with a modified Carlson-Crittenden collector. The salivary flow rate and salivary concentrations of total protein and inflammatory mediators were assessed. The Meso Scale Discovery electrochemiluminescence immunoassay was used for analyzing protein concentrations and the inflammatory biomarkers. Sufficient parotid saliva volumes to be analyzed could be collected with the collection device. JIA patients had a lower sampling saliva volume (p = 0.008) and saliva flow rate (p = 0.039) than controls. The total protein concentrations and inflammatory biomarkers were measured in the last six healthy subjects. The median protein concentration was 1312 µg/mL (25th percentile: 844 µg/mL and 75th percentile: 2062 µg/mL; n = 6) and quantifiable concentrations of 39 inflammatory proteins could be assessed in these samples. In conclusion, this study indicates that the saliva sampling method, as used in the present study, is able to collect sufficient sample volumes in children, and that it is possible to analyze various inflammatory biomarkers in the collected saliva.
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