Identification of proteins that allow to distinguish subjects with and without Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis

Abstract

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is the most common ulcerative disease of the oral mucosa. Currently, the therapeutic alternatives are only palliative and limited, due to a poor understanding of the etiopathogenic process. The objective of this study is to identify proteins that allow distinguishing between groups of subjects with and without Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis, to understand the processes that control health and disease states. In this case-control study, we evaluated by means of proteomics based on mass spectrometry the saliva of healthy controls and patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis during the presence and absence of lesions. We quantified the proteins, using the spectral counts reported by PEAKS Studio X+, and we prepared a database using SPSS statistics. We determined the differentially expressed proteins between the conditions with Perseus software using ANOVA analysis and hierarchical clustering. The salivary cyclic AMP-dependent transcription factor protein ATF-6 beta (ATF6B), stands out with a better classification profile. Hence, its presence allows us to distinguish between the presence and absence of ulcerative lesions in patients with and without recurrent aphthous stomatitis. Our analysis revealed that ATF6B is related to the endoplasmic reticulum stress response in oral keratinocytes. From a clinical perspective, we suggest that this protein is connected to several biological processes, mainly related to an anti-cell death response, determined by the stress of the endoplasmic reticulum, which could cause the damage that results in the release of this marker into the oral environment.