Increased salivary concentration of human epidermal growth factor in patients undergoing CAPD.

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) was measured in the saliva of 36 patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) and 29 matched control subjects. Salivary EGF in controls was 0.65 +/- 0.009 nmol/L compared with 0.99 +/- 0.24 nmol/L in nondialyzed CRF patients, 1.15 +/- 0.23 in hemodialyzed patients and 1.96 +/- 0.25 (p less than 0.01, Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test) in CAPD-treated patients. On Sephadex chromatography, the major peak of immunoreactive EGF from patient and control saliva samples coeluted with purified human EGF. We conclude that salivary concentrations of human EGF are significantly elevated in end-stage renal failure, particularly in patients treated by CAPD.