Novel biochemical markers: early detection and prevention of malignant transformation a pilot study

The role of oxygen free radicals in the initiation, promotion and progression of carcinogenesis and the protective role of anti-oxidant defenses has been the subject of much speculation in the recent past with conflicting reports in the literature. In recent years, increasing experimental and clinical data have provided compelling evidence for the involvement of oxidative stress in a large number of pathological states including cancers. The aim of this study was to measure the concentration of serum total proteins and albumin as potent anti-oxidants in the sera of patients diagnosed with speckled leukoplakia, one of the oral pre-cancerous lesions reported to have significantly high malignant transformation rates and well-differentiated oral squamous cell carcinoma. The study consisted of sera analysis of total protein and albumin levels in patients with speckled leukoplakia and histologically proven, well-differentiated oral squamous cell carcinoma. One way analyses of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the difference between groups. To find out which of the two groups' means were significantly different; post-hoc test of Scheffe was used. The study revealed variations in sera levels of albumin to be statistically significant. The results obtained emphasize the need for more studies with larger sample sizes to be conducted before a conclusive role for sera levels of total protein and albumin could be drawn as markers of transition from the various oral pre-cancerous lesions and conditions to frank oral squamous cell carcinoma.