Background: Obesity is a multifactorial disease and represents a global and relevant health problem. The aim of the study was to assess the concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-8 (IL-8)) and other selected proteins as well as enzymes (soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM1), calprotectin, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), toll like receptor 2 (TLR2)) detectable in the saliva of women who varied in body composition. It was debated whether there are marker factors in saliva that could indicate metabolic obesity.
Methods and findings: The pilot study included 10 women with obesity (BMI>30 kg/m2) and 6 women with normal body weight (control group). The levels of TNF-α, IL-8, sICAM1, calprotectin, MMP-9, MMP-2, and TLR2 were checked by using the ELISA technique. We proved that women with metabolic obesity had significantly increased concentrations of IL-8, calprotectin, and MMP-2 in comparison with healthy subjects. Significant positive correlations of BMI with TNF-α, IL-8, and MMP-2 were observed. Similarly, the content of fat (in kg and %) in the bodies of the women correlated positively with TNF-α, IL-8, and MMP-2. Whereas, the visceral adipose tissue (VAT) correlated positively only with TNF-α and MMP-2, similarly to VAT/SAT. The WHR (waist hip ratio) was also positively correlated with TNF-α and MMP-2. Interestingly, we found that the level of insulin positively correlated with TNF- α concentration, which additionally confirmed metabolic obesity.
Conclusions: We found that positive correlations of body mass index were observed only with salivary concentrations of TNF-α, MMP-2, and IL-8. Thus, it is worth conducting a study among a larger number of people taking into account these three salivary components.