Morphological Changes in the Oral Mucous Membrane in Viral Hepatitis C Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: The objective was to reveal the most typical changes in oral mucosa in HCV patients and compare them with those in HCV negative patients. Methods: The study involved 96 HCV patients and 100 patients without HCV who applied to a dental clinic. The content of cytokines IL-2, IL-4, IL-10 and ɤ-INF in the oral fluid was determined by ELISA. Buccal mucosa and gums biopsies passed histological examination. An immunohistochemical study of mucous membrane biopsies was performed using monoclonal mouse antibodies to CD3+ and CD20+. Results: The HCV patients group included 96 (63.5% males), and the non-HCV group included 100 subjects (62.0% males) with lesions of the oral mucous membrane. The lesions of lips and oral mucosa were more frequent in HCV than in the non-HCV group-e.g., erosion (13.5% vs. 1%), cracks in the mouth corners (42.7% vs. 0%), changes in the oral mucosa surface (89.6% vs. 3.0%), hemorrhages (78.1% vs. 0%), etc. The pro-inflammatory IL-2 level was higher and anti-inflammatory IL-4 level was lower in HCV patients compared with those in the non-HCV group. Conclusions: Morphological changes developed in the microvasculature both worsen the tissue trophism and accelerate the healing with differentiation into coarse-fibrous connective tissue. Immunohistochemical findings indicated a decrease in local humoral immune response.

Assessment of pathomorphological characteristics of the oral mucosa in patients with HBV, HCV and HIV.

INTRODUCTION: Oral clinical manifestations in HBV HCV and HIV patients indicate a deterioration in general health status. The aim of the study was to assess pathomorphologic features of oral mucosa observed in patients with these diseases. METHODOLOGY: The study was conducted in N1 Dental Clinic of YSMU after M. Heratsi. The total number of patients taking part in the research was 120, including HBV (n = 40), HCV (n = 40) and HIV (n = 40). After biopsy and subsequent histological examination of the oral mucosa, statistical analysis was carried out using Excel 2013 and R software. RESULTS: Pathomorphological examination revealed inflammatory infiltrations in all samples collected from HBV, HCV and HIV patients. These changes included microcirculatory disorders in 98.3% of samples: fibrinous-like deposits lining the surface of erosions and ulcers on the oral mucosa (1.67%), fibrosis of the mucous membrane (70%), dystrophy of squamous epithelium (93.3%) and bone sequestration (3.3%). Comparative analysis of pathomorphological characteristics revealed distinct content of infiltrates: lymphoplasmacytic infiltration in patients with HBV and HCV, while HIV patients showed neutrophils infiltration and lack of plasmocytes. CONCLUSIONS: There are common abnormal morphological changes in the oral mucosa typical of all patients with HBV, HCV and HIV, as well as liver diseases specific to each of them. Inflammation in the patients with HIV indicated impairment of the humoral immune system. Understanding the distinct characteristic of inflammation in the oral cavity could be useful for early differential diagnosis and management of patients with HIV, HBV and HCV.

Evaluation of IL-2, IL-10, IL-4 and ɤ-interferon levels in the oral fluids of patients with hepatitis C, B and HIV.

INTRODUCTION: Oral fluid cytokine levels can vary considerably during the onset of Inflammatory Periodontitis (IP) especially in people with hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Aim of our study was to evaluate levels of oral cytokines during the onset of IP among HCV, HBV and HIV negative and positive individuals in order to evaluate local immunity state during these infections. METHODOLOGY: This was a case control study with 3 groups of virally infected individuals and control group. All had IP including control group. RESULTS: 45 patients (51.7%) had HCV, 18 (20.7%) HBV and 24 (27.6%) HIV. For IL-2 we received significant difference for all groups compared with control -2.83; HBV-31.1 (p < 0.001), HCV-25.99 (p < 0.001) and HIV-24.57 (p < 0.001). For IL-10 significant difference was observed between control -0.94 and HCV-3.63 (p = 0.027), HBV-8.38 (15.51) groups (p < 0.001). IL-4 was significantly higher in control group 14.29 compared to HCV 0.2 (p < 0.001) and HIV 0.21 (p = 0.037) group. The adjusted analysis where we consider age as possible confounder revealed that only IL-2 significantly differs for all groups compared with control group: control vs HCV (p = 0.001); control vs HBV (p = 0.024); control vs HIV (p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Evidence for significant differences when comparing oral fluid cytokines of individuals with HCV, HBV and HIV with non-viral individuals was more obvious for IL-2. IL-2 levels were significantly higher in all 3 groups vs non-viral group even when age is confounder.