title: [Quantitative studies of the kallikrein-prokallikrein system in mixed saliva in oral squamous epithelial carcinoma].
abstract: Few biochemical analyses on the mixed salivary kallikrein-prokallikrein system exist. At present, there is no statistically relevant information about possible relationships between mixed salivary kallikreins and malignant processes, especially oral squamous cell carcinoma. In order to prove quantitative alterations of the kallikrein-prokallikrein system in the presence of oral squamous cell carcinoma, we estimated the enzyme content in mixed saliva from 15 men with oral squamous cell carcinoma and proenzyme in 14 men with the same tumors. Seventeen males served as controls for enzyme and 16 for proenzyme. Enzymatic cleavage of the chromogenetic tripeptide DL-Val-Leu-Arg-p-nitranilide was used. Additionally, we investigated a control group of 17 women of the same age as the males in order to record normal enzyme and proenzyme levels. The Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test showed highly significant elevation of mixed saliva kallikrein (P = 0.0003) and a highly significant increase in prokallikrein (P = 0.0012) in patients with the oral squamous cell carcinomas. The present findings indicate a probable biochemical role of the mixed saliva kallikrein and prokallikrein in the pathogenesis of oral tumors.
authors.affiliation: HNO-Klinik, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bankau
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000737:chemistry*; D004792:Enzyme Precursors / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007610:Kallikreins / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry*; D012016:Reference Values; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D004792:Enzyme Precursors; D007610:Kallikreins; C052910:prokallikrein, tissue