Salivary Albumin as a Biomarker for Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Chronic Periodontitis

Author(s):

Mallikarjuna Rao Koduru*, Amitha Ramesh, Swathi Adapa and Jayarama Shetty

Background: Detection of cancer at the early stage is of great importance to decrease the morbidity and mortality of the disease. And as it is known that in neoplastic conditions, many biochemical substances deviate from their normal values; these may include proteins of body fluid. Analysis of salivary markers may provide an economical and noninvasive approach for screening large population. Periodontal infection has been implicated as risk factor for systemic diseases such as coronary heart diseases and diabetes. Aim: The purpose of this preliminary study is to investigate whether salivary albumin levels can be used as an indicator for early detection of oral squamous cell carcinoma and in early detection of chronic periodontitis. Methods: In this cross-sectional study a total of 90 participants were recruited from Dept. of Periodontics, A. B. Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences and Dept of Oncology, K. S. HEGDE Medical Academy. The participants were divided into three groups of 30 each. Group A -healthy individuals, Group B -patients with chronic generalized periodontitis & Group C -patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. Salivary Albumin levels were measured using commercially available kits. The difference in the albumin levels between the three groups were compared using Kruskall Wallis test followed by Mann- Whitney U test. P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean value of Albumin in group A (healthy) is 0.28(SD is 0.19), in group B (chronic gen periodontitis) is 0.31(SD is 0.19), and in group C (OSCC) is 0.82.(SD is 0.41). On comparing the three mean values it is seen that there is a significant rise in salivary levels of Albumin in OSCC patients, but there was no significant rise in salivary albumin levels in chronic periodontitis cases when compared with the healthy group. Conclusion: This study shows that Salivary Albumin levels could be used as a biomarker in Oral squamous cell carcinoma cases but may not be useful as a biomarker for early detection of chronic generalized periodontitis.