Salivary Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor Expression: A Gateway to Early Detection of Oral Submucous Fibrosis

Background: Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a cytokine, mainly secreted by fibroblast cells which are implicated as a source of extracellular matrix in fibrotic regions. The objective of this research was to study the expression of salivary bFGF with clinical characteristics in patients with Oral submucous fibrosis and healthy controls. Methods: This study was conducted in the Dental OPD of Ziauddin University and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi in 2019 (0370718SSOM). A total 180 salivary samples ,including 90 controls and cases of Oral submucous fibrosis were processed and investigated at Ziauddin University's clinical laboratory in North Nazimabad using ELISA technique. Non- probability consecutive sampling technique was used. Questionnaire was used for recording socio - demographic data, frequency and duration of tobacco for all participants. For all the diagnosed cases of Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSF), clinical parameters were noted. SPSS v20 was used for analysis with a 95% confidence interval and 80% power; normality was tested via Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, associations between clinical characteristics and biomarker were assessed using one-way ANOVA and pooled t-test, salivary bFGF levels were compared using pooled t-test, and logistic regression was applied to calculate odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals to assess exposure-outcome associations. Results: The presence of bFGF was detected in the saliva samples taken from all participants. Mean levels of bFGF in controls were 2.59 ± 2.44 where as in cases the levels were elevated to 8.97 ± 2.96 and showed a significant correlation among cases and controls (p<0.001). Conclusion: An increase in salivary level of bFGF may indicate an irreversible progression in cases with Oral submucous Fibrosis.