An Investigation of Salivary Biomarkers in Acute Leukemia Patients

Abstract

Background: Leukemia is a fatal disease. A proliferation of immature bone marrow-derived cells is called acute leukemia that may also involve solid organs or peripheral blood. A sampling source for clinical diagnosis is saliva which has been used and it is a promising approach as collecting saliva is relatively easy and non-invasive. Over the past two decades, using saliva as biomarker, specifically for early cancer detection has attracted much research interest.

Objective: To estimate the role of some salivary components as biomarkers in patients with acute leukemia.

Patients and Methods: A total of 60 individuals with age range 19-56 years, 30 healthy individuals compared with 30 patients with acute leukemia in order to investigate the following salivary parameters: zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu),  iron (Fe), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzymes.

Results: The mean salivary trace elements: Cu, Cr, Fe, and Zn concentrations were significantly raised in patients with acute leukemia when they compared with controls (p<0.005, p<0.05, p< 0.001, and p<0.001 respectively). Also the mean salivary enzymes activities of SOD and LDH were raised significantly in patients with acute leukemia when they compared with healthy subject (p< 0.05 and p<0.001).

Conclusion: altered levels in salivary components in this research may be used as a diagnostic tool, especially when a concurrent analysis for significantly raised markers is carried out. This is because salivary diagnosis involves a non-invasive method, and may thus represent an effective alternative to serum testing.