Viral DNA in submandibular gland tissue with an inflammatory disorder

Noora Keski-Säntti; Elin Waltimo; Antti Mäkitie; Jaana Hagström; Maria Söderlund-Venermo; Timo Atula; Caj Haglund; Saku T Sinkkonen; Maria Jauhiainen

doi:10.1080/20002297.2024.2345941

Viral DNA in submandibular gland tissue with an inflammatory disorder

J Oral Microbiol. 2024 Apr 26;16(1):2345941. doi: 10.1080/20002297.2024.2345941. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Noora Keski-Säntti^{1

2

3}, Elin Waltimo^{3

4}, Antti Mäkitie^{2

5}, Jaana Hagström^{4

6

7

8}, Maria Söderlund-Venermo¹, Timo Atula², Caj Haglund^{8

9}, Saku T Sinkkonen², Maria Jauhiainen^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Virology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
² Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
³ The Doctoral Programme in Clinical Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁴ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁵ Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁶ Department of Pathology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
⁷ Department of Oral Pathology and radiology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
⁸ Research Programs Unit, Translational Cancer Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁹ Department of Surgery, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.

Abstract

Background: The etiology behind different types of chronic sialadenitis (CS), some of which exhibit IgG4 overexpression, is unknown. Further, IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) commonly affects the submandibular gland, but its relationship to IgG4-overexpressing CS, and the antigen triggering IgG4 overexpression, remain unknown.

Materials and methods: By qPCR, we assessed the presence of 21 DNA-viruses causing IgG4 overexpression in submandibular gland tissue from patients with IgG4-positive and IgG4-negative CS. Healthy submandibular glands and glands with sialolithiasis without CS were used as controls. We examined the distribution of HHV-7, HHV-6B and B19V DNA, within virus PCR-positive tissues with RNAscope in-situ hybridization (RISH).

Results: We detected DNA from seven viruses in 48/61 samples. EBV DNA was more prevalent within the IgG4-positive samples (6/29; 21%) than the IgG4-negative ones (1/19; 5.3%). B19V DNA was more prevalent within the IgG4-negative samples (5/19; 26%) than the IgG4-positive ones (4/29; 14%). The differences in virus prevalence were not statistically significant. Of the IgG4-RD samples (n = 3) one contained HHV-6B DNA. RISH only showed signals of HHV-7.

Conclusions: None of the studied viruses are implicated as triggering IgG4-overexpression in CS. Although our results do not confirm viral etiology in the examined conditions, they provide valuable information on the prevalence of viruses in both diseased and healthy submandibular gland tissue.

Keywords: Chronic sialadenitis; DNA viruses; Polymerase chain reaction; Sialolithiasis; immunoglobulin G4 related disease.

Grants and funding

Open access funded by Helsinki University Library. This study recieved funding by the Finnish State Research Funding for the Helsinki University Hospital (references TYH2021338 and TYH2024327), and Finska Läkaresällskapet.