Abstract

Non Invasive Assessment of IL6 Levels in Patients with Oral Cancer

Susanna T, Assistant Professor, Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College

Head and neck cancers constitute 30-35% of all cancers in India and majority of them 80-90% are oral cancers (1). The world wide 5 year survival rate of head and neck cancers are consistently less than 50% despite the tremendous advances in the treatment modalities, one of the reasons being the late presentation and detection of these cases, hence early detection through screening of high risk groups is an important approach towards better treatment outcome and survival rate(2) .Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a Pro inflammatory cytokine that promotes inflammation, development and progression of cancer. Studies have shown raised interleukin-6 levels in oral malignancy.(3,4) The assessment of quantitative increase in interleukin-6 levels in saliva of oral cancer patients if established, Whole saliva can be used as an alternative laboratory tool to blood as it is a non-invasive, easy, rapid to collect, easy to handle and cost effective sample, convenient both for patient and the health personnel during screening of larger population. (5) Subjects aged between 30 – 60 yrs were included in the study in 2 groups, Group I: cases of oral cancer (n=30).Group 2: Age and sex matched healthy controls (n=30).Unstimulated whole saliva sample (6) was assayed for interleukin-6 using ELISA kits. Data was analyzed using SPSS 22 version software. Our study showed a significant elevation of interleukin-6 in saliva of patients with oral cancer as compared to the healthy control group with a p value of<0.05.Analytes from blood are transferred to saliva through capillary walls, interstitial space, and acini or duct cells into the lumen of the salivary gland duct (7).Thus saliva can provide as an alternative to blood for oral cancer screening, however further longitudinal studies with increased sample size needs to done to substantiate the use of salivary IL6 as a screening tool.