Actinic cheilitis is a potentially malignant lesion on the lower lip, which can progress to more serious illnesses such as cancer if not treated. Usually treatment of this condition is only based on clinical appearance, but there is no established cure treatment. Topical imiquimod is a medicine indicated for the treatment of skin diseases, but it has not yet been proven to treat actinic cheilitis. In this research, the investigator's aim is to evaluate the response to actinic cheilitis treatment with the current standard treatment compared to high and low concentration imiquimod topical formulations.
Three formulations are used in this research: imiquimod 5%, imiquimod 0.05% e imiquimod nanoencapsulated 0.05%. Nanoencapsulation is a process that concentrates the drug into a capsule not visible to the naked eye, allowing it to penetrate skin more easily and will only release the drug at the lesion site. The drug is presented in a free form inside the gel in the others formulations.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
QUADRUPLE
Enrollment
49
Apply 0.5ml of gel stored in a 1ml syringe over the lip 3 times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) at night for a period of 4 weeks. Gel components: medium molecular weight chitosan, lactic acid 85% and water.
Apply 0.5ml of gel stored in a 1ml syringe over the lip 3 times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) at night for a period of 4 weeks. Gel components: medium molecular weight chitosan, lactic acid 85% and free form imiquimod 5%.
Apply 0.5ml of gel stored in a 1ml syringe over the lip 3 times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) at night for a period of 4 weeks. Gel components: medium molecular weight chitosan, lactic acid 85% and imiquimod 0.05% free form.
Apply 0.5ml of gel stored in a 1ml syringe over the lip 3 times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) at night for a period of 4 weeks. Gel components: medium molecular weight chitosan, lactic acid 85% and imiquomod in a nanoencapsulated suspension at concentration of 0,05%
Apply sunscreen on the lip 30 minutes every day before sun exposure. Protects against both UVA (ultraviolet A) and UVB (ultraviolet B rays).
Apply dexpanthenol on the lip, two (2) times a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Reduces transepidermic water loss and maintaining the natural smoothness and elasticity of the skin. It accelerates the cell renewal, rebuilds damaged tissues and promote the normal keratinisation of the skin and hair.
Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
School of Dentistry - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Clinical Response
Clinical analysis of lip photographs based on a classification. The lesions will be graded as: AC Grade I. Dryness and desquamation on the vermilion of lips. AC Grade II. Atrophy on the vermilion's border, presenting soft surfaces and pallid areas with eruptions. Blurred limit between the lip's vermilion border and the skin, or a dark line demarking that limit can be seen. This melanotic line should be different from ephelides or other pigmented lesions. AC Grade III. Rough and squamous areas on the drier parts of the vermilion and hyperkeratotic areas, especially when they spread to the wet lip's mucosa (border between mucosa and semimucosa). AC Grade IV. Ulceration present in one or more sites of the lip's vermillion or Leukoplakia, mainly in more traumatic places, due to the history of pipe or cigarettes consumption. These lesions could suggest that a malignization process would be in progress, especially when they are accompanied by endured areas on palpation.
Time frame: 30 days after conclusion of treatment
Clinical Response
Clinical analysis of lip photographs based on a classification. The lesions will be graded as: AC Grade I. Dryness and desquamation on the vermilion of lips. AC Grade II. Atrophy on the vermilion's border, presenting soft surfaces and pallid areas with eruptions. Blurred limit between the lip's vermilion border and the skin, or a dark line demarking that limit can be seen. This melanotic line should be different from ephelides or other pigmented lesions. AC Grade III. Rough and squamous areas on the drier parts of the vermilion and hyperkeratotic areas, especially when they spread to the wet lip's mucosa (border between mucosa and semimucosa). AC Grade IV. Ulceration present in one or more sites of the lip's vermillion or Leukoplakia, mainly in more traumatic places, due to the history of pipe or cigarettes consumption. These lesions could suggest that a malignization process would be in progress, especially when they are accompanied by endured areas on palpation.
Time frame: 180 days after conclusion of treatment
General Satisfaction about the medication: Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)
Satisfaction will be self-reported by VAS scale. The visual analogue scale (VAS) will be used to measure general satisfaction of participants to treatment. Participants will be asked to point in to a white paper with a 10cm line, where 0 represents none satisfaction and 10 maximum satisfaction.
Time frame: VAS scale will be generated at 14 days after beginning of the treatment.
General Satisfaction about the medication: Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)
Satisfaction will be self-reported by VAS scale. The visual analogue scale (VAS) will be used to measure general satisfaction of participants to treatment. Participants will be asked to point in to a white paper with a 10cm line, where 0 represents none satisfaction and 10 maximum satisfaction.
Time frame: VAS scale will be generated at 28 days after beginning of the treatment.
General Satisfaction about the medication: Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)
Satisfaction will be self-reported by VAS scale. The visual analogue scale (VAS) will be used to measure general satisfaction of participants to treatment. Participants will be asked to point in to a white paper with a 10cm line, where 0 represents none satisfaction and 10 maximum satisfaction.
Time frame: VAS scale will be generated at 60 days after beginning of the treatment.
General Satisfaction about the medication: Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)
Satisfaction will be self-reported by VAS scale. The visual analogue scale (VAS) will be used to measure general satisfaction of participants to treatment. Participants will be asked to point in to a white paper with a 10cm line, where 0 represents none satisfaction and 10 maximum satisfaction.
Time frame: VAS scale will be generated at 210 days after beginning of the treatment.
Adverse Events Severity
Adverse effects will be assessed during clinical evaluation at follow-up and with an adverse effects questionnaire.The questionnaire is based on self-reported events followed by a quantification of severity of local and systemic events. The participants are asked to classify the events in a scale of 0 to 3. 0= no sympton, 1- mild, 2-moderate and 3-severe.
Time frame: The adverse events questionnaire is applied in 14 days after beginning of the treatment.
Adverse Events Severity
Adverse effects will be assessed during clinical evaluation at follow-up and with an adverse effects questionnaire.The questionnaire is based on self-reported events followed by a quantification of severity of local and systemic events. The participants are asked to classify the events in a scale of 0 to 3. 0= no sympton, 1- mild, 2-moderate and 3-severe.
Time frame: The adverse events questionnaire is applied in 28 days after beginning of the treatment.
Adverse Events Severity
Adverse effects will be assessed during clinical evaluation at follow-up and with an adverse effects questionnaire.The questionnaire is based on self-reported events followed by a quantification of severity of local and systemic events. The participants are asked to classify the events in a scale of 0 to 3. 0= no sympton, 1- mild, 2-moderate and 3-severe.
Time frame: The adverse events questionnaire is applied in 60 days after beginning of the treatment.
Adverse Events Severity
Adverse effects will be assessed during clinical evaluation at follow-up and with an adverse effects questionnaire.The questionnaire is based on self-reported events followed by a quantification of severity of local and systemic events. The participants are asked to classify the events in a scale of 0 to 3. 0= no sympton, 1- mild, 2-moderate and 3-severe.
Time frame: The adverse events questionnaire is applied in 210 days after beginning of the treatment.
Maturation epithelial pattern
Upon confirmation of the diagnosis of actinic cheilitis, participants will undergo a noninvasive procedure called exfoliative cytology. With this examination it is possible to analyze morphological changes of the collected cells by light microscopy. The lip mucosa is scraped with cytobrush, which is then used to smear two glass slides. From one of the obtained smears, Papanicolaou stain will be performed. Papanicoloau staining allows assessing different cell types, which are quantified to evaluate epithelial differentiation.
Time frame: Maturation epithelial pattern analysis will be performed at 28 days after beginning of the treatment.
Maturation epithelial pattern
Upon confirmation of the diagnosis of actinic cheilitis, participants will undergo a noninvasive procedure called exfoliative cytology. With this examination it is possible to analyze morphological changes of the collected cells by light microscopy. The lip mucosa is scraped with cytobrush, which is then used to smear two glass slides. From one of the obtained smears, Papanicolaou stain will be performed. Papanicoloau staining allows assessing different cell types, which are quantified to evaluate epithelial differentiation.
Time frame: Maturation epithelial pattern analysis will be performed at 60 days after beginning of the treatment.
Maturation epithelial pattern
Upon confirmation of the diagnosis of actinic cheilitis, participants will undergo a noninvasive procedure called exfoliative cytology. With this examination it is possible to analyze morphological changes of the collected cells by light microscopy. The lip mucosa is scraped with cytobrush, which is then used to smear two glass slides. From one of the obtained smears, Papanicolaou stain will be performed. Papanicoloau staining allows assessing different cell types, which are quantified to evaluate epithelial differentiation.
Time frame: Maturation epithelial pattern analysis will be performed at 210 days after beginning of the treatment.
Cell proliferation - mAgNOR
Upon confirmation of the diagnosis of actinic cheilitis, participants will undergo a noninvasive procedure called exfoliative cytology. The lip mucosa is scraped with cytobrush, which is then used to smear two glass slides. One slide will be stained with AgNOR. With this examination it is possible to analyze cell proliferation activity. From the quantification of AgNORs, the average AgNORs / core (mAgNOR) will be calculated. The low average of AgNOR stained cells indicates lower cell proliferation and a higher average indicates greater proliferation.
Time frame: mAgNOR analysis will be performed at 28 days after beginning of the treatment.
Cell proliferation - mAgNOR
Upon confirmation of the diagnosis of actinic cheilitis, participants will undergo a noninvasive procedure called exfoliative cytology. The lip mucosa is scraped with cytobrush, which is then used to smear two glass slides. One slide will be stained with AgNOR. With this examination it is possible to analyze cell proliferation activity. From the quantification of AgNORs, the average AgNORs / core (mAgNOR) will be calculated. The low average of AgNOR stained cells indicates lower cell proliferation and a higher average indicates greater proliferation.
Time frame: mAgNOR analysis will be performed at 60 days after beginning of the treatment.
Cell proliferation - mAgNOR
Upon confirmation of the diagnosis of actinic cheilitis, participants will undergo a noninvasive procedure called exfoliative cytology. The lip mucosa is scraped with cytobrush, which is then used to smear two glass slides. One slide will be stained with AgNOR. With this examination it is possible to analyze cell proliferation activity. From the quantification of AgNORs, the average AgNORs / core (mAgNOR) will be calculated. The low average of AgNOR stained cells indicates lower cell proliferation and a higher average indicates greater proliferation.
Time frame: mAgNOR analysis will be performed at 210 days after beginning of the treatment.
Cell proliferation - pAgNOR
Upon confirmation of the diagnosis of actinic cheilitis, participants will undergo a noninvasive procedure called exfoliative cytology. The lip mucosa is scraped with cytobrush, which is then used to smear two glass slides. One slide will be stained with AgNOR. With this examination it is possible to analyze cell proliferation activity. A second evaluation parameter will be the percentage of cells with more than 1, 2, 3 and 4 AgNORs / nucleus (pAgNOR). A higher percentage of cells with more than 3 and 4 AgNORs per nucleus indicate greater proliferation.
Time frame: pAgNOR analysis will be performed at 28 days after beginning of the treatment.
Cell proliferation - pAgNOR
Upon confirmation of the diagnosis of actinic cheilitis, participants will undergo a noninvasive procedure called exfoliative cytology. The lip mucosa is scraped with cytobrush, which is then used to smear two glass slides. One slide will be stained with AgNOR. With this examination it is possible to analyze cell proliferation activity. A second evaluation parameter will be the percentage of cells with more than 1, 2, 3 and 4 AgNORs / nucleus (pAgNOR). A higher percentage of cells with more than 3 and 4 AgNORs per nucleus indicate greater proliferation.
Time frame: pAgNOR analysis will be performed at 60 days after beginning of the treatment.
Cell proliferation - pAgNOR
Upon confirmation of the diagnosis of actinic cheilitis, participants will undergo a noninvasive procedure called exfoliative cytology. The lip mucosa is scraped with cytobrush, which is then used to smear two glass slides. One slide will be stained with AgNOR. With this examination it is possible to analyze cell proliferation activity. A second evaluation parameter will be the percentage of cells with more than 1, 2, 3 and 4 AgNORs / nucleus (pAgNOR). A higher percentage of cells with more than 3 and 4 AgNORs per nucleus indicate greater proliferation.
Time frame: pAgNOR analysis will be performed at 210 days after beginning of the treatment.
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