Table 1.
Patient characteristics.
Fig 1.
The saliva is collected at the sampling points 1–4. Sampling point 1: before TR, sampling point 2: when OM occurred, sampling point 3: when OM grade changed, and sampling point 4: after TR. Abbreviations: TR, treatment; OM, oral mucositis.
Table 2.
Dental data of patients.
Fig 2.
Comparison of oral mucosal dryness between HV (n = 33) and pre- and post-index patients with cancer (n = 18 and n = 34, respectively).
All data for the post-index group are obtained at sampling points 2 within 3 days of an OM event, 3 if and when the OM event improved or worsened, and 4 within 7 days after treatment completion. (a) Data are shown as means ± standard deviations. The closed circles for the index groups represent patients with leukemia, while the open circles represent patients with head and neck carcinoma. Oral mucosal dryness has no unit. The dotted line shows the cut-off value for dryness (y = 28). Statistical differences between the HV and each index group are analyzed using Dunn’s multiple comparisons test (***p < 0.001). (b) Oral mucosal dryness is divided into two groups (< 28 and ≥ 28), and the frequency is analyzed using the Chi-square test (*p < 0.05). HV, healthy volunteers; OM, oral mucositis.
Fig 3.
Concentration differences in salivary inflammatory mediators between healthy volunteers (HV) and pre- and post-index patients with cancer.
(a) IL-1β, (b) IL-6, (c) IL-8, (d) IL-10, (e) IL-12p70, (f) TNF, (g) PGE2, and (h) VEGF. Data are shown as mean ± standard deviation. The closed circles for the index groups represent patients with leukemia, while the open circles represent patients with head and neck carcinoma. All data for the post-index group were obtained at sampling points 2, 3, and 4, as described in the methods section. The data in the pre-index group (IL-1β and VEGF; n = 1 and PGE2; n = 5) and the post-index group (IL-1β; n = 5, IL-6; n = 4, IL-8; n = 14, IL-10, IL-12p70, TNF, and VEGF; n = 3, and PGE2; n = 17) are missing because of low volume of saliva sampled or detection limits. The statistical differences between the HV and each index group are analyzed using Dunn’s multiple comparisons test (*p < 0.05 and ****p < 0.0001). The statistical differences between the pre- and post-index groups (Table 3) are analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test (#p < 0.05 and ###p < 0.001).
Table 3.
Differences in measurements between pre- and post-index patients with cancer.
Fig 4.
Concentration differences in oral mucosal dryness and salivary inflammatory mediators between sampling point 1 and 4.
(a) Oral mucosal dryness, (b) IL-1β, (c) IL-6, (d) IL-8, (e) IL-10, (f) IL-12p70, (g) TNF, (h) PGE2, and (i) VEGF. Data are shown as mean ± standard deviation. The closed circles represent patients with leukemia, while the open circles represent patients with head and neck carcinoma. Sampling was done in group 1 and 4 before and after cancer treatment, as described in the methods section. The statistical differences between the sampled 1 and 4 groups were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test (*p < 0.05).
Fig 5.
Correlation between the oral mucositis (OM) grade and the measurements.
(a) Oral mucosal dryness and (b) IL-1β, (c) IL-6, (d) IL-8, (e) IL-10, (f) IL-12p70, (g) TNF, (h) PGE2, and (i) VEGF in the saliva of patients with cancer. The closed circles for the index groups represent patients with leukemia, while the open circles represent patients with head and neck carcinoma. The correlation of OM grade with each measurement is analyzed using Spearman’s r test.
Fig 6.
Concentration differences in salivary inflammatory mediators between pre- and post-index patients in each cancer group.
(a) Oral mucosal dryness, (b) IL-1β, (c) IL-6, (d) IL-8, (e) IL-10, (f) IL-12p70, (g) TNF, (h) PGE2, and (i) VEGF. Data are shown as mean ± standard deviation. The closed circles represent patients with leukemia, while the open circles represent patients with head and neck carcinoma. All data for the post-index group were obtained at sampling points 2, 3, and 4, as described in the methods section. The statistical differences between the leukemia and head and neck carcinoma groups are analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001). The statistical differences between the pre- and post-index groups in each cancer were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test (#p < 0.05, and ##p < 0.01).
Table 4.
Correlation between the oral mucositis grade and the measurements.