Estimation of salivary lactate dehydrogenase in oral squamous cell carcinoma, oral leukoplakia, and smokers

• Published in: Journal of cancer research and therapeutics Vol. 18; no. 9; pp. 215 - 218
• Main Authors: Bhuvaneswari, Mahalingam, Prasad, Harikrishnan, Rajmohan, Muthusamy, Sri Chinthu, Kenniyan, Prema, Perumal, Mahalakshmi, Loganathan, Kumar, Gopal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Wolters Kluwer India Pvt. Ltd 01.12.2022; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Cancer patients; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - pathology; Comparative analysis; Dehydrogenases; Diagnosis; Female; Head and Neck Neoplasms - metabolism; Health aspects; Humans; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase; Lactate dehydrogenase; Leukoplakia, Oral; Leukoplakia, Oral - pathology; Male; Measurement; Medical examination; Middle Aged; Mouth cancer; Mouth Neoplasms - pathology; Oral cancer; Risk factors; Saliva - metabolism; Salivary diagnostics; Smokers; Squamous cell carcinoma; Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck - metabolism; Young Adult; India; saliva; oral leukoplakia; Lactate dehydrogenase; oral squamous cell carcinoma; smokers
• ISSN: 0973-1482; 1998-4138; 1998-4138
• DOI: 10.4103/jcrt.JCRT_969_20

Introduction: Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is an enzyme seen within every cell during their normal metabolic function. It is always confined within the cell cytoplasm and it becomes extracellular only when a cell dies. The extracellular presence of LDH is related to cell necrosis and tissue breakdown. Therefore, we designed a study to estimate and compare LDH levels in the saliva of patients with oral cancer, oral leukoplakia (OL), and smokers without lesions and in controls. Materials and Methods: A total of 81 subjects of both genders, between the ages of 20 and 70 years, were included in the study. The study group was divided into four: group I-controls (n = 20), Group II-smokers (n = 20), Group III-subjects with OL (n = 20), and Group IV-subjects with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) (n = 21). Five milliliters of unstimulated salivary sample was collected from each participant, and salivary LDH level was measured. The obtained values were tabulated and statistically analyzed. P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: The difference in LDH levels among the four groups was found to "BE" statistically significant. LDH values showed a marked increase in the leukoplakia group (49.79 ± 19.88 IU/L) and OSCC group (106.97 ± 32.75 IU/L) when compared to controls and smokers. Conclusion: We found that salivary LDH was increased in patients with leukoplakia and OSCC. Smoking alone did not produce any alterations in salivary LDH. It is possible that salivary LDH could be a potential biomarker to identify early premalignant or malignant changes in smokers.