Immunological and histological studies stomatitis in children: a pilot study

The observation that denture stomatitis could be closely associated with infections by oral microbes, especially Candida, suggested that interferon (IFN) might be produced patients with atrophic denture stomatitis. We measured the saliva level of IFN in 24juvenile patients affected or not with denture stomatitis (erythema score 0-3) and 26 healthy children. No salivary IFN activity was found except in one patient with an erythema score of 3. Our data suggest that the presence of IFN in saliva might depend on the disease activity including the period and stage of its development. Immunocytochemical studies by an avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex method and hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining affected palatal mucosa from patients with erythema score 2 and 3 showed a typical atrophic lesion which is usually seen in adult patients with denture stomatitis. In contrast to adult patients, however, leukocyte penetration was not observed in the lesion. This observation suggests that an immunological response to denture stomatitis in children might be somewhat different from that in adults. Denture stomatitis (DS) is a very frequent complication of the wearing of removable dentures or space maintainers in children as well as adults (BudtzJ6rgensen et al. 1975). Several etiological factors such as microbes and allergic response to denture-base materials have been suggested. 1 Bergendal and Holmberg (1982) found an increased humoral antibody response against Candida albicans in adult patients with DS, suggesting that these patients are more susceptible to local contamination and infection with C. albicans. Recently, inflammatory infiltrate such as macrophages, granulocytes, and lymphocytes has been observed in the inflamed tissues from adult patients with DS (Johannessen et al. 1986). These data indicate that DS is ’ Van Reenen 1973; Budtz-J6rgensen et al. 1975; Arendorf and Walker 1979; Giunta et al. 1979; Holbrook and Russell 1979; Devlin and Watts 1984. complex inflammatory lesion where elements of both humoral and cellular immune responses are seen. We have recently found that there was a significant correlation between the quantitative increase in Candida and the severity of clinical condition of DS in children, suggesting that Candida infection can be one of the etiologic factors in DS in children. It is well known that viral and bacterial infection and antigen-antibody complexes can cause the production of IFN which has many biological activities such as antiviral activity, immunoregulatory function (e.g., antibody production), and enhancement of cell functions (Hooks 1982). Therefore, it is possible that IFN can be produced in the patients with DS. To investigate this possibility, we measured the salivary level of IFN in children with DS. In addition, the affected palatal mucosa was studied immunocytochemically. Materials and Methods