Expression of Sirtuin 3 in oral cancer and oral leukoplakia: A cross-sectional observational study

Aim: To evaluate Sirtuin 3, a protein-coding gene regulator that is contemporary in research and has gained importance rapidly in the recent years, and to correlate its expression in normal tissues, smokers without lesion (SWL), oral leukoplakia (OL), and oral cancer. Materials and Methods: The prospective study of sample size of 52 tissues was divided into 4 groups such as normal (n = 13), SWL (n = 13), OL (n = 13), and oral cancer (n = 13) based on simple randomization. The tissue samples of OL and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) were subjected to histologic examination. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was carried out in 52 samples to evaluate the expression of Sirtuin 3. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used for normality testing. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used for intergroup comparison of cycle threshold, followed by Dunn's post hoc analysis. Results: The post hoc analysis showed that there was a statistically significant difference between normal group and other study groups (smokers, leukoplakia, and OSCC) (P < 0.001). A statistically significant difference was also observed between leukoplakia and oral cancer for the concentration of Sirtuin (P = 0.0004). Intergroup comparison for cycle threshold revealed no statistically significant difference between the study groups. Conclusion: Sirtuin 3 was well expressed in oral cancer and OL tissues, suggesting that it could be added to the oncogenic profile. The expression of Sirtuin 3 increases with an increase in grades of dysplasia and could aid in understanding its role in the pathogenesis of potentially malignant disorders and oral cancer and can also be an ideal evaluator of prognosis.