Lipoxygenase products in human saliva: patients with oral cancer compared to controls

Lipoxygenase products were quantified in human mixed saliva and in saliva fractions obtained from a parotid or submandibular gland using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and stable isotope dilution. In glandular saliva, only linoleic acid was detected at levels of 20-30 ng/ml. In contrast, mixed saliva showed a linoleic acid concentration of around 300 ng/ml, arachidonic acid levels of around 30 ng/ml, hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid (HODE) levels between 5 and 10 ng/ml, and hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (HETE) levels up to 25 ng/ml. By far the most abundant HETE was 12-HETE, and incubation experiments with arachidonic acid showed the presence of a substantial 12-lipoxygenase activity in human mixed saliva, but not in saliva fractions. This activity was identified as 12(S)-lipoxygenase activity by chiral analysis of the reaction product. Investigating mixed saliva and glandular saliva of patients with squamous cell carcinoma in the upper aerodigestive tract and of controls, most patients showed elevated levels of free arachidonic acid and elevated HETE levels. Besides a moderate increase in 12-HETE levels, markedly elevated concentrations of 5-HETE and 15-HETE were observed for the carcinoma patients. The level of free arachidonic acid and the quantitative HETE profile appear to be good markers for the inflammatory processes occurring in the oral mucosa and in saliva in response to the development of squamous cell carcinoma.