Characteristic of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Tissues Using Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry

Overall prognosis for patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSSC) is still unfavourable. However, there is a hope that a novel diagnostic method may establish better cancer biology characteristics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the isotope ratio of nitrogen and carbon in OSSC as compared to margin and healthy tissue. A total of 18 patients with OSSC were included in the study. Specimens collected covered: four tumour, four margin and two healthy oral mucosa samples. The samples underwent further procedures: lyophilization and isotope ratio mass spectrometry. Measurements of the ratio of stable isotopes of nitrogen ¹⁵N/¹⁴N and carbon ¹³C/¹²C were performed. It is noticeable that the highest average nitrogen concentration was observed in tumour 12 ± 0.4% and the lowest in healthy tissues 8 ± 0.9% (p < 0.00001). The highest average carbon content was observed in healthy tissues 57 ± 2.2% and the lowest in tumour 46 ± 1.3% (p < 0.00001). Moreover, values of ¹⁵N/¹⁴N expressed in delta notation were the highest in healthy tissues 9.84 ± 0.61 and the lowest in tumour 8.92 ± 0.58. Values of ¹³C/¹²C tended to be higher in tumour -22.2 ± 0.89 and the lowest in healthy tissues -23.7 ± 1.2. Tumour tissues differ in isotopic composition from tissues taken from margin and healthy tissues taken from distant oral mucosa.