Role of Serum Alpha1-Antitrypsin in Oral Cancer

Objectives: Oral cancer is one of the ten leading cancers in the world. Early diagnosis of cancer plays a vital role in the overall management of the disease. However, as yet, no suitable tumor marker has been identified which helps in the early detection of oral cancer. In the present study, role of serum alpha1-antitrypsin (A1-AT) as a potential tumor marker was evaluated and found to be reliable. Methods:In the present study, the serum levels of alpha1-antitrypsin in 60 patients with oral cancer and 20 age and sex matched normal controls were evaluated. Group I included the normal controls. The cancer group was deivided equally into 3 groups, Group II had stage I and II oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), Group III had stage III and Group IV had stage IV oral SCC. A caseinolytic method was employed in the evaluation of A1-AT. Results: Group I (controls) had an average serum level of 106.15 U/dl of A1-AT, Group II (Stage I and II SCC) had 129.45 U/dl, Group III (Stage III SCC) had 160.40 U/dl and Group IV (Stage IV SCC) had 252.00 U/dl. Conclusions:A1-AT is an acute phase reactant globulin which is a protease inhibitor in normal serum. Though the exact reason for its elevation in SCC is not known, it may be due to reaction of the host to the tumor burden, excessive production in the liver as a protective mechanism, as a normal immunoregulatory mechanism by producing excessive A1-AT, or to inhibit the lysosomal enzyme concentrations in the neoplastic tissue. A1-AT is a glycoprotein and glycoproteins have been found to be effective in inhibiting cell division which occurs in an uncontrollable manner in case of malignancy.