Evaluation of salivary biomarkers for early detection of oral cell carcinoma.

Abstract

Objective: To do a comparative analysis of salivary levels LDH, amylase, total protein, CYFRA 21-1 and CA19-9 in oral SCC, PML and healthy individuals. Study Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Department of Oncology, Women Medical College Abbottabad. Period: January 2021 to January 2022. Material & Methods: In a total of 200 patients. Study participants were divided into three groups. Group I (n=90) had cases diagnosed with oral SCC, Group II (n=60) cases with PML and Group III (n=50) had healthy controls. Saliva samples of patients with PML and SCC were collected before they were administered definitive therapy. ELISA was used for evaluation of CA19-9 and CYFRA 21-1, while standard kit method was used for evaluation of amylase, LDH and total protein level. Results: There was statistically significant association between oral lesions and alcohol (P=.0005), smoking (P=.0001) and tobacco chewing (P=.0005). In Group I, most common site of lesion was buccal mucosa (47%), while in Group II tongue (35%) was most commonly affected. 33.3% patients with SCC had lymphadenopathy. Level of total proteins, LDH and CYFRA 21-1 were higher, while amylase was lower in Group I and II compared to Group III. Level of CA19-9 was not significantly different in three study groups. ROC analysis showed that CYFRA21-1 had greater chance of identifying oral malignancies (P=.0001). Conclusion: The outcome shows that the concurrent evaluation of salivary biomarkers can help in early detection of malignancy.