ORCID

Abstract

Diagnostic screening of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) generally involves detection of biomarkers in invasive biopsy samples. Extensiveinvestigations have detected a wide molecular signature, present in saliva that may be indicative of OSCC and stage of development. This metaanalysis assesses the potential of salivary cytokines, IL-1α, IL-6, IL-8 and TNFα, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) as suitable non-invasivebiomarkers for OSCC and to identify those distinguishing between different stages of disease, as well as other oral pathologies. Electronicsearches were conducted across databases such as PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus among others. The identified studies were screened, andeligibility was assessed using specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data from 12 included studies was then entered into RevMan5 for analysis.Heterogeneity of the outcomes were high, so subgroup analyses were conducted to establish the cause. Salivary IL-6, IL-8, TNFα and LDH areall significantly elevated in OSCC patients’ saliva compared to healthy controls: IL-6 (HR=1.75; 95% CI: [0.84, 2.66]; P=0.0002); IL-8 (HR=2.20;95% CI: [0.11, 4.30]; P=0.04); TNFα (HR=0.80; 95% CI: [0.46, 1.15]; P<0.00001); LDH (HR=8.71; 95% CI: [4.52, 12.90]; P<0.0001). IL-1α, on theother hand, was not significantly different between saliva samples from OSCC patients and healthy controls. Salivary IL-6, IL-8 and LDH were alsosignificantly elevated in OSCC. This is ideal for establishing the presence of OSCC and highlights the applicability of these cytokines and LDH asbiomarkers for the disease.

Publication Date

2023-07-14

Publication Title

Advances in Dentistry & Oral Health

Volume

16

Issue

2

ISSN

2472-6389

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