Comparison of Serum Fucose Levels in Leukoplakia and Oral Cancer Patients

Abstract

Background: Tumor markers, designated as a broad group of substances produced by malignancies, could be in the form of biochemical substances, immunological substances, cell surface changes and genetic alterations. Cancer, a disorder of cellular behavior is characterized by alteration of serum glycoproteins. L-fucose, a hexose, which is the terminal sugar in most of the plasma glycoproteins, may be useful as a tumor marker for the detection, monitoring and prognostic assessment of malignancies. The aim of the study was to ascertain the role of serum fucose as a biomarker for early detection of oral cancer and to compare serum fucose levels in healthy controls, leukoplakia and oral cancer patients. Materials and Methods: The study included 60 (100.0%) subjects, who were grouped as 20 (33.3%) control subjects, 20 (33.3%) squamous cell carcinoma patients and 20 (33.3%) leukoplakia patients. Fucose estimation was done using UV-visible spectrophotometry based on the method as adopted by Winzler using cysteine reagent. The results were analyzed statistically using ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc tests. Results: Results showed a high significance in serum fucose in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and leukoplakia subjects compared to normal controls. There was a gradual increase in the values noted from control to leukoplakia and to squamous cell carcinoma. Conclusions: Estimation of serum fucose may be a reliable marker and can be used as an effective diagnostic biomarker in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients.

Potential role of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to identify salivary metabolite alterations in patients with head and neck cancer

“…They reported over 2-fold increase in serum glycoprotein L-fucose in patients compared to controls. Findings reported by other researchers are also consistent (29,30). However, according to our best knowledge, this study, for the first time, demonstrates that HNSCC-induced alterations in fucose levels can be also detected in unstimulated whole-mouth saliva.…”

The Diverse Contributions of Fucose Linkages in Cancer

“…In Table 3, we summarize findings from studies comparing serum fucose and fucosylated glycan profiles from healthy individuals vs. breast, oral/head and neck, HCC, ovarian, CRC, pancreatic, lung and prostate cancer patients. Several of these studies suggest diagnostic potential for serum L-fucose levels, which have been found to be elevated in cancer patient sera in breast [53,54,55], oral/head and neck [56,57,58,59,60,61], HCC [62,63,64,65], CRC [66,67], and ovarian [55,68] cancer patients compared with healthy individuals. Specific fucosylated glycoconjugates have been found to also have potential diagnostic utility.…”

Diagnostic values of serum tumor markers Cyfra21-1, SCCAg, ferritin, CEA, CA19-9, and AFP in oral/oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

“… 7 , 8 The TM is a kind of substance, which may be abnormal because of tumor cells-related gene expression or body response to tumor in the process of the occurrence and proliferation of malignant tumor. 9 It was reported that the levels of serum TMs showed better diagnostic values in partial malignant tumors, for example, α-fetoprotein (AFP) and prostate-specific antigen became the specific TMs of liver cancer and prostate cancer, respectively. 10 , 11 It has been demonstrated that squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCAg), cytokeratin 19 fragment (Cyfra21-1), and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were significantly higher in cervical squamous cell carcinoma, small cell lung cancer, and colorectal carcinoma respectively; 12 – 14 the levels of serum Cyfra21-1 and SCCAg were significantly higher in partial patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, 15 , 16 suggesting that these serum TMs might have better clinical value in the screening and diagnosis of the tumor.…”