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Serum nitric oxide levels in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
Ahmet Kizilay1, M Tayyar Kalcioğlu, Fikret Ozuğurlu
1Department of Otolaryngology, Medical Faculty of Inonü University, Malatya, Turkey. akizilay@inonu.edu.tr.
Objectives:
We determined serum nitric oxide (NO) levels in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and sought correlations with TNM staging, tumor localization, and tumor grade.
Patients And Methods:
Serum samples were obtained from 36 patients (mean age 63 years; range 37 to 80 years) with head and neck SCC prior to treatment and from 20 healthy individuals (mean age 56 years; range 30 to 72 years) as controls. Tumor staging was based on the criteria of the American Joint Committee of Cancer staging system in 2002. Thirteen patients had stage I-II, and 23 patients had stage III-IV tumors and all had well- or moderately-differentiated SCC (grade 1-2). Serum NO levels were analyzed by a spectrophotometric method based on the determination of total nitrite levels in serum and compared between the patient and control groups.
Results:
The mean serum NO levels were 20.08+/-1.40 micromol/l and 13.57+/-0.99 micromol/l in cancer patients and controls, respectively (p=0.001). There were no correlations between NO levels and age, sex, tumor stage, localization, and histological grade.
Conclusion:
These data suggest that head and neck SCC is associated with increased serum NO levels, which may play a role in tumor growth.
