Dental News - Scientists declare CUS an autoimmune disease

Daniel Zimmermann, DTI

Mon. 18 April 2011

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NEW YORK, USA/LEIPZIG, Germany: Patients that suffer from a very rare condition affecting the oral mucosa may soon get relief from new research conducted in the US. In a recent study, scientists from the Tufts University near Boston claim to have found evidence that the so-called Chronic Ulcerative Stomatitis (CUS), characterised by recurring painful ulcers, is mainly caused by an autoimmune response of the body that destroys the binding of cells inside the surface tissue layer of the mouth.

According to the scientist, only a dozen cases of CUS have been reported worldwide since the condition was first clinically identified in 1989 but more patients could be affected due to the extensive testing procedure and low awareness among dental clinicians. They said although prior it was known that affected patients had specific autoantibodies, researchers were not able to determine how much these actually contributed to the condition. With help of the new findings, CUS could now be classified as an autoimmune disease in order to allow better management of the symptoms.

Due to its unique resistance to standard medication like corticosteroids, successful treatment of CUS has been achieved only in some cases through hydroxychloroquine, a prescription drug primarely used to prevent malaria as well as to treat rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. By better understanding the mechanisms linking the autoimmune response to ulcerative sores, new treatment approaches could be developed to manage the condition, the scientists said.

So far, CUS has been found primarily in middle-aged Caucasian woman. It can only be diagnosed by surgical biopsy using immunofluorescence microscopic examination in an outside lab. In normal clinical settings it can be taken for oral erosive lichen planus, another more common chronic condition affecting mucosal surfaces and also considered to be an autoimmune disease.

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