From the Blue Marble University
Department of Naturopathic Medicine
Editor Note: Here we share an amazing Independent Study Paper by former ND graduate student, Rodney Vasquez Villalobos, N.D., Ph.D.
The paper is entitled: “Identification of Growth Factors and Cytokines in Saliva” published January, 2024, and is published here:
Villalobos, RV, (2024) “Identification of Growth Factors and Cytokines in Saliva”, https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/_b_Identification_of_Growth_Factors_and_Cytokines_in_Saliva_b_/25048322
This is an example of the excellent work consistently being generated by our graduate students across all programs.
In a Naturopathic practice, the ideal way to assess therapeutic effect is via saliva tests. Saliva is easy for the ND and/or patient to collect, and the ease of collection presents good opportunities for testing before and after some therapeutic modality, without the onerous needle prick associated with blood tests.
In this paper, Dr. Villabos built on previous observations of growth factors and cytokines associated with various stem cell therapeutics, and for the first time in the literature, made a comparison of growth factors and cytokines found in platelet rich plasma (PRP) to those identified in saliva. Showing these to be almost identical, Dr. Villalobos has advanced the field of saliva testing, and ultimately to creating a new series of testing that will aid naturopathic modalities as well as overall medical testing as well.
The full paper is Here for viewing/download:
Identification of Growth Factors and Cytokines in Saliva
And here we excerpt the very important Table he created (references not shown):
|
Table Comparing Major Factors/Cytokines |
||
| Growth Factors/Cytokines |
PRP |
Saliva |
| CTGF Connective Tissue Growth Factor |
✓ |
✓ |
| ECGF Endothelial Cell Growth Factor |
✓ |
|
| bFGF Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor |
✓ |
✓ |
| TGF β1 Transforming Growth Factor Beta 1 |
✓ |
✓ |
| VEGF Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor |
✓ |
✓ |
| IGF 1&2 Insulin-like Growth Factors |
✓ |
✓ |
| PD-EGF Platelet Derived Epidermal Growth Factor |
✓ |
|
| PDGF-𝛂 and β Platelet Derived Growth Factor |
✓ |
✓ |
| FGF-2 Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 |
✓ |
✓ |
| IL-6 Interleukin 6 |
✓ |
✓ |
| IL-8 Interleukin 8 |
✓ |
✓ |
| IL-1β Interleukin 1β |
✓ |
✓ |
| IL-10 Interleukin 10 |
✓ |
✓ |
| IL-12p70 Interleukin 12p70 |
✓ |
✓ |
| TNF-𝛂 Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha |
✓ |
✓ |
| NGF Nerve Growth Factor |
✓ |
✓ |
| HGF Hepatocyte Growth Factor |
✓ |
✓ |
| EGF Epidermal Growth Factor |
✓ |
✓ |
| GCSF Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor | ||
| M-CSF Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor |
✓ |
|
| FGF4,7,19,21 Fibroblast Growth Factors 4,7,19,21 | ||
| SCF Stem Cell Factor |
✓ |
|
| Fibrinogen |
✓ |
✓ |
| PF5 Platelet Factor 5 |
✓ |
|
| P-selectin |
✓ |
✓ |
| α-granules, dense granules, and lysosomes |
✓ |
|
| α-granules, dense granules, and lysosomes |
✓ |
✓ |
| MCP 1 Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein 1 |
✓ |
|
| GM-CSF Granulocyte Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor |
✓ |
|
| IL-2 Interleukin 2 |
✓ |
|
| IL-4 Interleukin 4 |
✓ |
|
| SDF-1 Stromal Cell Derived Factor 1 |
✓ |
|
Blue Marble University offers a 3-year online ND degree.
More about the online Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine (ND) degree is here:
https://bluemarbleuniversity.com/online-doctor-of-naturopathic-medicine-degree/
Just another example of the high level of scholarship exhibited by graduate students of Blue Marble University.
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