Inhibitory effect of curcumin on IL-8 expression in the saliva of patients with dental caries. A, The IL-6 expression is less than 5 pg/mL in four of five normal individuals, which is similar to the expression level reported in the literature. Individual #1 has high level expression that could reflect an inflammatory condition. B, IL-8 expression in three individuals resembles the expression range reported in the literature. Individual #3 has three times the expected expression. Appreciable changes were not observed in IL-6 or IL-8 levels after curcumin treatment. C, Of the thirteen patients with dental caries tested, one sample, #11 shows a 50% reduction and another sample #3 has a four-fold increased expression of IL-6. Appreciable changes are not seen in other samples. D, Eight of the dental caries patients show reduced IL-8 expression and four of them show greater than 25% reduction (#1, 3, 11 and 13). One sample, #8, shows a 20% increase in IL-8 expression post curcumin treatment.