A leucocyte migration study on the cell-mediated immunity against adult human oral mucosa and streptococcal antigens in patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis.

In vitro demonstration of cell-mediated immunity (CMI) against adult human oral mucosa antigen (AHOM) and streptococcal antigens was accomplished by means of the leucocyte migration test (LMT) in patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS). If antigenic extracts of AHOM, Streptococcus sanguis strain 2A or Streptococcus pyogenes strain M5 were used in the LMT experiments, the distribution of migration indices (MI) over patients with RAS differed significantly from the distribution over the controls. In patients with other oral lesions, these MI-distributions did not differ significantly from those among the controls. Extracts of other tissues such as kidney and uterus tissues or of other bacterial antigens such as Brucella abortus and Escherichia coli did not reveal any significant differences between the LMT responses in RAS and controls. The present findings show that CIM against AHOM antigen and streptococcal antigens are features characteristic of RAS. Furthermore, the results indicate that common antigenic determinants might be shared by AHOM and streptococci.