Serum Cyfra 21-1 levels in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients and its clinicopathologic correlation.

BACKGROUND: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignant tumor in the oral and maxillofacial region. The diagnosis in most cases is made at advanced stages with lymph node metastases and thus has a poor prognosis. Evidence suggests that detection of molecular abnormalities might be useful in screening for early malignancy. Cytokeratins (CKs) are part of the epithelial cytoskeleton. In malignancy, some CK filament fragments might be released in the serum. CK19 fragment Cyfra 21-1 is useful tumor marker for squamous cell carcinoma, but its clinical value in OSCC has not been confirmed. Hence, the aim was to investigate the diagnostic value of serum Cyfra 21-1 in OSCC patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The preoperative serum Cyfra 21-1 concentration of forty OSCC patients and forty healthy controls was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using a commercial Cyfra 21-1 ELISA kit Xema Co., Ltd., Moscow, Russia. All statistical analyses were performed on STATISTICA statistical software (Windows version 6.0). RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference (P P P = 0.459). CONCLUSION: It could thus be conjectured from the present study that increased serum Cyfra 21-1 level can be used as an adjunctive serological marker for the OSCC disease staging.