Utility of serum and salivary lactate dehydrogenase and uric acid levels as a diagnostic profile in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients

G Anitha; K Vinod Kumar; Gururaj Deshpande; M Nagaraj; Veerbhadra Kalyani

doi:10.4103/jomfp.jomfp_26_22

Utility of serum and salivary lactate dehydrogenase and uric acid levels as a diagnostic profile in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients

J Oral Maxillofac Pathol. 2022 Apr-Jun;26(2):218-227. doi: 10.4103/jomfp.jomfp_26_22. Epub 2022 Jun 28.

Authors

G Anitha¹, K Vinod Kumar², Gururaj Deshpande³, M Nagaraj⁴, Veerbhadra Kalyani³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Periodontics, ESIC Dental College, Kalaburagi, Karnataka, India.
² Department of Oral Pathology, ESIC Dental College, Kalaburagi, Karnataka, India.
³ Department of Surgical Oncology, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, VTSM Peripheral Cancer Centre, Kalaburagi, Karnataka, India.
⁴ Department of OMFS, ESIC Dental College, Kalaburagi, Karnataka, India.

Abstract

Background: Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), an intra-cellular enzyme present in all cells of the body, catalyses the final step of anaerobic glycolysis. This intra-cellular enzyme is released into the extra-cellular space after tissue disintegration, which is evident in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). However, investigations comparing Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels in OSCC and healthy controls have shown conflicting findings in both serum and saliva samples. Further, Uric acid's anti-oxidant activity has been demonstrated in several diseases. Several cancers have been linked to increased uric acid levels. However, uric acid levels in oral squamous cell cancer have varied. There exists limitted research comparing serum and salivary uric acid with OSCC. Thus, the present investigation was conducted to evaluate the combined diagnostic abilities of serum and salivary LDH and uric acid in OSCC.

Aim and objective: To compare and correlate LDH and uric acid levels in serum and salivary samples of OSCC patients and healthy individuals.

Material and methods: LDH levels and uric acid levels were measured using an enzymatic method in serum and salivary samples of OSCC cases (n = 18) and healthy individuals (n = 18).

Results: This study indicated statistically significant elevated levels of LDH in serum and saliva samples of OSCC patients when compared to healthy individuals. Furthermore, serum and salivary uric acid were higher in OSCC patients than in controls. This increased levels of uric acid was significant only in serum but not in saliva samples. However, salivary uric acid was found to be co-relating with serum uric acid. In addition to this, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve when plotted to assess combined diagnostic abilities of all the investigations to predict oscc, indicating the diagnostic ability to be 77%.

Conclusion: This study found an increase in uric acid levels in OSCC patients, which contradicts previous existing litratures. Salivary uric acid and LDH levels may be effective indicators for OSCC screening. However, because of the limited sample size, these findings should be viewed with caution.

Keywords: Lactate dehydrogenase; oral squamous cell carcinoma; saliva; serum; uric acid.