ABSTRACT

Aim

Recurrent aphtous stomatitis (RAS) is the most common mucosal disease with unknown etiology. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a proinflamatory cytokine which has a role in T cell activation. This study aimed to investigate importance of MIF in etiology of RAS.

Materials and Methods

70 patients who were above the age of 18, clinically diagnosed RAS and 72 healthy volunteers were included into the study. Patients and control subjects were examined for MIF seroprevalence by ELISA.

Results

There were no significant difference between RAS and control groups in mean values of MIF. In comparison of RAS patients in two subgroups- with RAS score above 6 and with 5 and less than 5, there were also no significant difference between these subgroups in mean values of MIF. On the other hand the reccurrence of lesions and mean values of MIF showed no relevance.

Conclusion

Eventhough proposed in the hypothesis of this study, there had been no statistically significant relationship between MIF and RAS etiology.