Levels of potential oral cancer salivary mRNA biomarkers in oral cancer patients in remission and oral lichen planus patients

Objectives To gather preliminary data concerning the feasibility of using seven salivary mRNAs—IL-8; IL-1β; dual specificity phosphatase 1 (DUSP1); H3 histone family 3A (H3F3A); ornithin decarboxylase antizyme 1 (OAZ1); S100 calcium-binding protein P (S100P); and spermidine/spermine N1-acetyltransferase 1 (SAT1)—for detecting development of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in oral lichen planus (OLP) patients and OSCC patients whose disease was in remission. Materials and methods Saliva samples were collected from five study groups (25 subjects/group): newly diagnosed OSCC, OSCC-in-remission, disease-active OLP, disease-inactive OLP, and normal controls. The salivary mRNA levels were determined by a pre-amplification RT-qPCR approach with nested gene-specific primers. Mean fold changes between each pair of study groups were analyzed by the Mann–Whitney U test. Results Salivary levels of OAZ1, S100P, and DUSP1 mRNAs were significantly higher in newly diagnosed OSCC patients, compared to: (1) normal controls ( p = 0.003; p = 0.003; and p < 0.001, respectively); (2) OSCC-in-remission ( p < 0.001; p = 0.001; and p < 0.001, respectively); (3) disease-active OLP ( p < 0.001; p = 0.016; and p < 0.001, respectively); and (4) disease-inactive OLP ( p = 0.043; p < 0.001; and p < 0.001, respectively). No significant differences were found in the levels of salivary IL-8, IL-1β, H3F3A, and SAT1 mRNAs between newly diagnosed OSCC patients and the normal controls ( p = 0.093, 0.327, 0.764, and 0.560, respectively). Conclusion Salivary OAZ1, S100P, and DUSP1 mRNAs are candidate biomarkers for detecting OSCC development in OSCC patients in remission and in OLP patients. Clinical relevance The results of this study serve as the basis for a further large-scale study which may lead to a non-invasive screening method for early detection of OSCC.