Chemokines and Cytokines as Salivary Biomarkers for the Early Diagnosis of Oral Cancer

Abstract

Chemokines have been shown to be important in both inflammation and carcinogenesis and are able to be measured in saliva with relatively robust methods including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Thus it has been hypothesized that patients with oral cancer and oral potentially malignant lesions will have elevated levels of specific chemokines in oral fluids and that this may be used as a marker of both the early detection of malignant disease and progression to malignancy. The concept that salivary biomarkers can be easily measured and indicate disease states has profound consequences for clinical practice and may open up new strategies for the diagnosis, prognosis, and potential therapy of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). This review focuses on our understanding of cytokines and chemokines and the potential role that they may have in clinical practice.

Salivary and serum interleukin-6 levels in proliferative verrucous leukoplakia

“…IL-6 is a multifunctional cytokine produced by macrophages, neutrophils, fibroblasts, keratinocytes and endothelial cells [34]. It can be anti-and proinflammatory [35], has some characteristics of a growth factor and is involved in the development and progression of some cancers [36][37][38].…”

Chemokines in tumor proximal fluids

“…In regard to the diagnostic and prognostic role of chemokines it should be noted, however, that many chemokines are post-translationally modified by proteolytic cleavage, which may render an agonist more active or inactive or even convert the active chemokine into a receptor antagonist. Consequently, more refined methods are needed to indicate not only intact chemokines, but also those modified posttranslationally 76,77 . The investigation of tumor proximal fluid provides a unique opportunity to directly study the composition of tumor microenvironment, and to gain more insight into tumor-host interactions without distortion following the passage of regulatory molecules into the systemic circulation.…”

“…In a similar fashion, CXCL8 levels in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue correlated with increased metastasis and poor prognosis 75 . In addition to CXCL8, CXCL10 and CCL14, too, were significantly elevated in saliva samples of oral cancer patients 76,77 . Sahingur and Yeudall(ref.…”

Role of Salivary Biomarkers for Early Detection of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…5 At present, the diagnosis of OSCC is through comprehensive clinical examination and histological analysis of suspicious areas, but it may remain undetected in hidden sites. 6 Since the molecular pathogenesis of oral cancer is complex, numerous studies have been done in this field to understand the possible role of molecular biological markers in cancers, which help in assessment of cancer risk, and potentiality of a lesion toward malignant transformation and also in predicting the prognosis.…”