Adenosine Deaminase - a Novel Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker for Oral SCC

Failure or delay in the early diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the primary causes of high mortality and morbidity in cancer patients (Ferlay et al., 2004). Further insights into the mechanisms leading to malignancy are prerequisite for identifying new biomarkers for OSCC from the serum. The idea of screening and following patients with malignancy by serum analysis is appealing from several points of view including its ease, economical advantage, noninvasiveness and possibility of repeated sampling. Serum ADA level is shown to be increased in cancers of many tissues like colon, bladder, breast, esophagus and liver. Therefore aim of the study was to analyze Serum ADA level in OSCC and objectives of the study were to compare serum ADA level of OSCC patients with normal healthy individuals, to correlate serum ADA level of OSCC patients with histopathological grades of OSCC and to determine the diagnostic and prognostic implications of serum ADA level in OSCC patients.