Salivary glutathione and uric acid levels in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
We evaluated the concentrations of glutathione and uric acid, low molecular weight antioxidants, in saliva of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), in order to identify differences with normal subjects and to obtain information about biochemical alterations of human saliva during carcinogenesis.


METHODS
We compared 50 HNSCC patients, divided in 2 subsets on the basis of tumor site, with a control group of 77 subjects, without a previous diagnosis of HNSCC, matched for age, sex, alcohol consumption, and smoking status.


RESULTS
At tests for equality of means by Welch and Brown-Forsythe, differences between groups resulted probable for salivary levels of glutathione (p = .004 and p < .001 respectively) but not for salivary levels of uric acid (p = .228 and p = .122 respectively). Comparing groups by Tamhane test, the patients with oral or pharyngeal cancer had significantly higher salivary levels of glutathione than both controls and patients with laryngeal cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
Salivary glutathione levels may be an index of oxidative stress at the level of the upper airways and in particular of oral cavity and pharynx. Therefore, high salivary glutathione may be an epidemiological marker to identify subjects with an increased risk of developing HNSCC, to submit to strict follow-up and chemoprevention. Metabolic alterations of saliva could be both an epidemiological marker and a target for chemoprevention of oral and oropharyngeal carcinogenesis.
Almadori
Giovanni
G
Institute of Otolaryngology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy. almgio@yahoo.it
Bussu
Francesco
F
Galli
Jacopo
J
Limongelli
Attilio
A
Persichilli
Silvia
S
Zappacosta
Bruno
B
Minucci
Angelo
A
Paludetti
Gaetano
G
Giardina
Bruno
B
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003124:Colorimetry; D005260:Female; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism*; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism*; D012737:Sex Factors; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000378:metabolism*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D014527:Uric Acid; D005978:Glutathione