Association of hypoxia responsiveness and cell turnover in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Introduction: Oral cancer is one of the major health problems in India and Indian subcontinent countries. During the past few years, the association between cancer and raised uric acid has drawn a lot of attention. High cell turnover can lead to hyperuricemia and tumorigenesis implicating an underlying link between purine metabolism disorders and cancer. Objective: To evaluate serum levels of uric acid and hypoxia induced factor 1 alpha in oral cancer patients and compare them with those of healthy controls. Material and methods: 50 confirmed oral squamous cell cancer cases and controls had serum uric acid levels measured using timed end point method given by Fossati and Berti (1980) on spectrophotometer and HIF 1 alpha was measured by performing Sandwich ELISA. The data obtained was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 20.0 (SPSS 20). Statistical significance was determined at p < 0.05. Results: Significant variation was observed in mean value of HIF 1 α in cases and control with normal (P value <0.05) as well as high (p value <0.001) uric acid levels. Conclusion: As hypoxia is a common feature of many cancers. HIF-1alpha is an essential component in changing the transcriptional response of tumours under hypoxia. Elevated uric acid may be a true risk factor for cancer incidence and mortality and mechanisms by which uric acid may contribute to cancer pathogenesis by increasing the expression of gene coding for HIF-1alpha.