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Copyright (c) 2025 Ahmed Abdulhassan Abbas, Zahraa F. Shaker, Batool Hassan Al-Ghurabi, Ghaib Nidhal H, Mohammed Ahmed Abdulhassan, Mustafa Ahmed Abdulhassan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The undersigned hereby assign all rights, included but not limited to copyright, for this manuscript to CMB Association upon its submission for consideration to publication on Cellular and Molecular Biology. The rights assigned include, but are not limited to, the sole and exclusive rights to license, sell, subsequently assign, derive, distribute, display and reproduce this manuscript, in whole or in part, in any format, electronic or otherwise, including those in existence at the time this agreement was signed. The authors hereby warrant that they have not granted or assigned, and shall not grant or assign, the aforementioned rights to any other person, firm, organization, or other entity. All rights are automatically restored to authors if this manuscript is not accepted for publication.Salivary interleukin-17A and interleukin-18 as potential biomarkers of immunopathogenesis and oral health status in rheumatoid arthritis
Corresponding Author(s) : Batool Hassan Al-Ghurabi
Cellular and Molecular Biology,
Vol. 71 No. 8: Issue 8
Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by persistent inflammation and is often associated with poor oral health. Cytokines play a central role in RA immunopathogenesis. This case-control study investigated the involvement of salivary interleukin-17A (IL-17A) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) in RA patients in relation to oral health status. Unstimulated whole saliva samples were collected from 20 RA patients and 20 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Oral health was assessed using plaque and gingival indices. Salivary IL-17A and IL-18 concentrations were measured by ELISA. RA patients exhibited significantly higher salivary levels of IL-17A and IL-18 compared to controls (p < 0.05). Both cytokines showed positive correlations with gingival index, and IL-17A was also correlated with disease activity (DAS28). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis demonstrated that both interleukins effectively discriminated RA patients from healthy controls (AUC = 0.927 for IL-17A, AUC = 0.925 for IL-18). These findings suggest that elevated salivary IL-17A and IL-18 are associated with increased oral inflammation and may serve as non-invasive biomarkers for RA immunopathogenesis and oral health deterioration.
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