Abstracto

A preliminary study of antioxidants in oral cancer prognosis

Krishnananda Prabhu, Anjali Rao, Divya Naik

Background: Free radicals and antioxidants have been implicated in initiation and progression of various epithelial malignancies. But their role in overall prognosis, drug resistance and cancer recurrence is not clearly understood. Hence, the role of erythrocytic glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) and plasma ceruloplasmin (CP) and total glutathione- S-transferase (GST) were evaluated to assess the prognosis and survival of patientswith oral cancer.Materials andmethods:Biopsy proven oral cancer patients (n=17) stage IV who underwent same mode of treatment were chosen for this study. Erythrocytic GSH and MDA, plasma CP and total GST levels of above patients which were measured before onset of any treatment were compared with their prognosis. Statistical analysis: Mann-Whitney test and Independent Sample T Test. Results and dicussion: We observed that patients who had recurrence of cancer within 2 years of onset of treatment, had higher levels of GSH, GST and CP as compared to their respective levels in patients who had no evidence of recurrence. This indicates there may be a role for these antioxidant parameters namelyGST, GSH, CP in assessment of long term survival of oral cancer patients.