Molecular markers in children parotid saliva

T. FERRARY, S. DEL CANTO, M. BISCOGLIO DE JIMENEZ BONINO

Carlos Paz, Cordoba, Argentina

Congreso; 44 Reunion Anual SAIB. IUBMB Symposium; 2008

SAIB

The “normal” protein pattern of physiological fluids can be used as reference for differential diagnosis of pathologies. Saliva proteome is composed by a number of proteins involved in the homeostasis of the oral cavity. The main objectives of this work are: a) to describe the protein profile of parotid saliva of healthy children; b) to identify molecular markers for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). Ten samples of parotid saliva of healthy children and twelve samples of children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis were collected with a Lashley cup following stimulation with a 2 % citric acid solution. After molecular exclusion chromatography, each fraction was submitted to HPLC-ESI-MS. The peak containing 10-23 kDa molecular species was analyzed by RP-HPLC. A further ESI-MS analysis allowed detection of a 18.455 Da protein present in most of JRA samples studied and absent in all control samples. Further studies are being performed to confirm that such protein could be a new tool for the diagnosis of this disease.