Clinical evaluation of sialic acid in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients and tobacco chewers or smokers with no cancer

Abstract

Sialic acid plays a significant role in cancer due to increased sialylation and sialyltransferase activity. Patients with cancer have been reported to have significant elevations of serum Total Sialic Acid (TSA) and Lipid Bound Sialic Acid (LBSA) levels as compared to control persons. The present study was carried out to evaluate sialic acid levels in control, non-cancer smokers or tobacco chewers and Head and Neck Squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cancer patients. Blood samples were obtained from the histopathologically diagnosed HNSCC patients, healthy controls and those persons who were either smokers or tobacco chewers with no oral cancer. Serum TSA and LBSA were measured spectrophotometrically. Serum TSA and LBSA levels were significantly elevated in HNSCC patients compared to healthy control with P<0.0001. These levels were also significantly increased in individuals who were smokers or tobacco chewers with no cancer compared to healthy control (P<0.0001). Our results found significant elevation of serum sialic acid levels in HNSCC patients and in smokers and tobacco chewers with no cancer as compared to control individuals. These findings suggested role of tobacco in biochemical changes during the malignant transformation. These results also indicate that these parameters can be utilized in diagnosis of the HNSCC.