Detection of AMA-M2 in human saliva: Potentials in diagnosis and monitoring of primary biliary cholangitis

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 796 - 7
• Main Authors: Lu, Chong, Hou, Xianliang, Li, Minwei, Wang, Lin, Zeng, Ping, Jia, Hongyu, Chen, Jianing, Wei, Yingfeng, He, Hong, Liu, Xiangdong, Diao, Hongyan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 11-04-2017; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/250/38; 692/699/249/1313; 82/1; 96/21; Antibodies; Biomarkers; Blood tests; Cholangitis; Cytokines; Diagnosis; Gallbladder diseases; Health risks; Hospitals; Humanities and Social Sciences; Infectious diseases; Inflammation; Invasiveness; Laboratories; Lichen planus; Medical diagnosis; Mitochondria; multidisciplinary; Saliva; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Serological tests
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-00906-1

Serum anti-mitochondrial antibody type 2 (AMA-M2) is considered as a pivotal biomarker for the diagnosis of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). However, serological tests have many limitations, including inconvenience, invasiveness, and infection risks. Thus, a less invasive approach to detect AMA-M2 titer is desirable. We examined salivary AMA-M2 of potential PBC patients and found that AMA-M2 could be detected only in saliva of serum AMA-M2-positive PBC patients, but not in saliva of serum AMA-M2-negative PBC patients, oral lichen planus patients (OLP) patients, or healthy controls. Furthermore, the concentration of salivary AMA-M2 was positively correlated with the amount of serum AMA-M2 in patients. The salivary inflammatory cytokines were increased in the PBC, consistent with the results of serum test. These findings indicated that saliva might be a less invasive and cost-effective medium to accurately test for AMA-M2 levels and this is a promising development for the diagnosis and monitoring of PBC.