Prognostic value of serum liver enzymes in oral and oropharynx squamous cell carcinomas

Serum liver enzymes, which catalyze relevant catabolic pathways, have been indicated to be diagnostic and prognostic tools for several malignant tumors. The correlation between serum liver enzymes levels and survival in patients with oral and oropharynx squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) is still absent. Here, we conducted a study focusing on predictive value of serum liver enzymes in terms of prognosis in the patients.

A retrospective study including 134 OSCC patients from years 2009 to 2014 was performed to investigate the association between levels of pre-treatment serum liver enzymes, various clinical parameters and prognostic outcomes, which are overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Log-rank tests with Kaplan-Meier method were used to detect potential prognostic biomarkers. Multivariate analyses by Cox proportional hazards model were used to identify significant predictors of prognosis.

Serum adenosine deaminase (ADA) level was associated with patients' OS and DFS by univariate analyses (P = 0.006 and P = 0.024, respectively). Multivariate analyses showed that higher serum ADA (>17.2 U/L) (P = 0.019) as well as positive lymph node status (P = 0.035) independently predicted worse OS of patients with OSCC. In addition, older age (≥60 years) (P = 0.043) and positive lymph node status (P = 0.027) were independently prognostic parameters for poorer DFS.

Pre-operative serum ADA levels may serve as a reliable independent prognostic predictor for OS in OSCC patients.