Open AccessSialic acid as a biomarker of oral potentially malignant disorders and oral cancer
Author(s) -
Sonika Achalli,
Medhini Madi,
Subhas Babu,
Shishir Ram Shetty,
Suchetha Kumari N,
Supriya Bhat
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
indian journal of dental research/indian journal of dental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.277
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1998-3603
pISSN - 0970-9290
DOI - 10.4103/ijdr.ijdr_632_16
Subject(s) - sialic acid , saliva , carcinogenesis , cancer , medicine , mucin , gastroenterology , immunology , physiology , biology , pathology , biochemistry
Carcinogenesis is a multistep process where a healthy cell has initially a precancerous stage and finally an early cancerous stage. The process of carcinogenesis can be divided into three stages of initiation, promotion, and progression. In this process, there is increased turnover, secretion, and/or shedding from malignant cells. Glycoproteins like sialic acid are expressed on the cell surface. In oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) and oral cancer (OC), the sialic acid level is seen to increase due to high cell turnover and shedding of malignant cells which, in turn, results in the release of glycoproteins like sialic acid into circulation. Glycoproteins also form an important constituent of salivary mucins and hence due to the same mechanism, an increase in sialic acid level is also seen in saliva.