Salivary protein polymorphisms in caries-free and caries-active adults.

Several salivary proteins are known to exhibit genetic polymorphism, and this study was undertaken to determine whether there was an association of caries experience with specific parotid salivary protein phenotypes. Parotid saliva collected from 46 caries-free and 47 caries-active naval recruits was subjected to SDS, anionic, and cationic polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis. Distributions of the acidic proline-rich (Pr), parotid acidic (Pa), double band (Db), parotid size variant (Ps), parotid middle band (Pm), and parotid basic (Pb) protein phenotypes were similar in both caries-free and caries-active subjects. Further, overall protein patterns on SDS, anionic, and cationic slab gels did not differ between the two groups.