[The assessment of the effectiveness of the shark liver oil in recurrent aphthous stomatitis treatment: clinical and immunological studies].

There is no specific and effective treatment for recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS), which is connected with its unexplained etiology. The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical efficiency and immunomodulation of the shark liver oil in treatment of recurrent aphthous stomatitis. Twenty-five patients with severe disease received treatment with shark liver oil during a three-month period. The frequency of occurrence of RAS decreased from 1.56 before treatment to 0.95 after treatment and the number of lesions per month was significantly reduced during the third month of treatment and two months after treatment. During two months after treatment 4 patients had no ulcers and an improvement was exhibited in all except 3 of the remaining patients. The treatment had an influence on some immunological parameters. A better response of neutrophils to OZ and PMA were seen. The B cell and T CD3/HLA DR+ cell percentage returned to normal values. A significantly increased percentage of T cells was observed as compared to the before treatment value. The level of C4 and the hemolytic activity of the complement system decreased after treatment and neared the normal values. The shark liver oil contains compounds that have a positive immunomodulation action and alleviate the course of disease.