Assessment of serum synuclein‐γ and squamous cell carcinoma antigen as diagnostic biomarkers in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and oral potentially malignant disorders

Abstract

Background Clinical diagnosis and monitoring are crucial to reduce the mortality from oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs). It has been demonstrated that synuclein‐γ (SNCG) and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCAg) are highly expressed in patients with OSCC and perhaps participate in OSCC progression. This study analyzed the levels of serum SNCG and SCCAg in OSCC, OPMD, and control patients, and evaluated the diagnostic and clinical value of single and combined detection of serum SNCG and SCCAg in OSCC and OPMDs. Patients and methods Serum samples were collected from 197 patients including 87 patients with OSCC, 30 patients with OPMDs, and 80 healthy volunteers as controls. Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and statistical analysis were utilized to determine SNCG and SCCAg levels in serum. Results The levels of SNCG and SCCAg in serum were significantly higher in OSCC compared with OPMDs and controls. There was a correlation between SNCG level and ethnicity, and SCCAg was correlated with differentiation. Furthermore, the area under the curves, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of combined detection of SNCG and SCCAg were better than any single detection. Conclusion The combined detection of SNCG and SCCAg in serum could become a new standard method to distinguish between OSCC and OPMDs and improve diagnostic performance for OSCC.

Upregulation of Synuclein-γ and Snai1 Contributes to Poor Clinical Prognosis in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients

“…In this study, we explored the expression and role of SNCG in OSCC. First, we detected the mRNA and protein expression of SNCG in OSCC and found that SNCG was highly expressed in OSCC tissues, which was consistent with our previous study [ 24 , 25 ]. And our results were consistent with those reported in multiple articles, which indicate that SNCG was highly expressed in a variety of tumors [ 9 , 37 , 38 ].…”

“…Therefore, the difference between our experimental results and database results may be due to different sample sources and ethnic differences, which may require more samples to test. At the same time, we analyzed the correlation between the expression of SNCG in OSCC and clinicopathological features and found that the expression of SNCG was related to differentiation, which was consistent with our previous study [ 24 , 25 ]. Next, we explored the diagnostic value of SNCG in OSCC tissues.…”

“…However, our experimental results were inconsistent with those in the GEO database, and the results from the GEO database indicated that there was no difference in the SNCG expression between OSCC and normal tissues. Our previous study found that the expression of SNCG in OSCC was related to ethnic differences [ 25 ]. Therefore, the difference between our experimental results and database results may be due to different sample sources and ethnic differences, which may require more samples to test.…”

“…The results showed that SNCG could distinguish OSCC patients from normal people, which was consistent with the report by Liu et al [ 39 ], who found that urine SNCG could distinguish bladder cancer from urinary system diseases and could be used as a marker for the diagnosis of bladder cancer. In addition, our previous study has shown that serum SNCG and SCCAg have good diagnostic value for OSCC, and the combination of these two factors has a higher diagnostic efficiency in distinguishing OSCC from normal people, with an AUC of 0.998, a sensitivity of 97.7%, and a specificity of 98.85% [ 25 ]. In the present study, when SNCG and Snai1 were combined to diagnose OSCC, the AUC was 0.884, and the sensitivity and specificity were 65.96% and 96.67%, respectively.…”

“…Our previous study has found that the levels of SNCG in saliva and serum of OSCC patients are higher than those of patients with oral potential malignant diseases and healthy controls and are related to the differentiation of OSCC [ 24 , 25 ]. On the basis of previous studies, we intended to further explore the expression of SNCG in OSCC tissues and its value in the diagnosis and prognosis of OSCC.…”