The role of calprotectin at behcet and idiopathic aphthous stomatitis

Behcet Disease (BD) is a vasculitis which is followed by stiffness of muscle-skeleton, neurologic and gastrointestinal system, in addition to recurrent oral, genital ulcers and eye findings. Oral Ulcer (OU) is the most common symptom of BD. This ulcer is painful, in scale of 1 to 3 cm, covered by a yellow fibrine and generally recovers without scars. OU showing up in BD and Idiopathic Aphthous Stomatitis (Recurrent aphthous stomatitis) (RAS) resemble each other and discriminating consisted ulcerations is clinically impossible. Diagnosis in these both illnesses is decided according to the story of patient and clinical symptom, because there is not a laboratory method. The aim of this study is to determine the role of calprotectin in the differential diagnosis of ulcers seen in BD and RAS. In this study; the evaluation of the level of calprotectin in the samples of serum and saliva of 31 patients with RAS, 35 patients of BD with OU, 35 patients of BD without OU and healthy control group consisting of 30 people, determined by Gaziantep University Rheumatology Department and Faculty of Dentistry, is purposed. Ulcer number, the type of ulcer, the periodontological state of patient and control groups are evaluated. 131 volunteers were admitted to this study. The genders of patients (woman/man) are 13/18 in RAS, 17/18 in Behcet active, 13/22 in Behcet remission and 13/17 in healthy control. Median ages are 28.51±6.86 in RAS, 33.48±9.08 in Behcet active, 33.62±8.94 in Behcet remission, 29.38±7.60 years in healthy control. And there was no any statistical difference between patients' ages and genders (p>0.05). A significant difference has not been detected in terms of periodontological state, the type of ulcer, the level of serum and saliva calprotectin searched between groups of RAS and BD with OU (p >0.05). The levels of calprotectin in the samples of serum and saliva of patients with Behcet remission and with healthy control are detected lower than Behcet active and RAS. Although there is high calprotectin level in Behcet active group than RAS, a significant difference has not been detected statistically between the set workgroups (p >0.05). As a result, the level of serum and saliva calprotectin in the BD and RAS oral ulcer discrimination has not any role in differential diagnosis. However, it will be beneficial to examine whether calprotectin has a role or not in more clinical trials and with more patients.