Association of Serum Soluble E-Cadherin Levels with Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders in Tobacco Users and Non-Users

Background: Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMDs) transforms into Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) but thistransformation is not steadfast and depends on multiple factors. E-cadherin, a calcium-dependent cell-cell adhesion moleculeplays pivotal role in epithelial cell behavior, tissue formation, and suppression of cancer and participates in signal transduction ofvarious cellular events including polarity, differentiation, growth and migration. The serum E-cadherin level are raised in cancerpatientsObjective: We designed the study to compare soluble E-cadherin levels in the serum of patients with OPMDs and healthy controlamongtobacco users and non-users.Material and Methods: This comparative cross sectional study was conducted at Peshawar Dental College, Khyber College ofDentistry,and Bacha Khan Dental College on the serum samples of 80 subjects, comprising of40 cases of OPMDs and40 healthycontrols,by adoptingnon-probability consecutive samplingtechnique.The serum was analyzed for soluble E-cadherin levels/concentration by ELISA method. Data was recorded, evaluated andanalyzed by SPSS version 23.Results:In OPMDs (Group A) 29 (72.5 %) were tobacco user and 11 (27.5 %) were non-users while in healthy controls (Group B)only 7 (17.5 %) were tobacco user and 33 (82.5 %) were non-usersThe mean serum soluble E-cadherin levels among OPMDs andhealthy controls were 25.94 ng/mL(SD of ±4.65), 24.10ng/mL (SDof ±6.21) respectively. It was statistically insignificant (P>0.05) and were identified when independent samples T-Test were appliedto compare the serum soluble E-cadherin levels between the two groups. Statistically significant (P<0.05) relation has beenestablished in our study between tobacco users and OPMDs. By using Chi square test both tobacco users and non-users, malesand females showed highly significant association with OPMDs group and healthy controls with a (P<0.05) respectivelyConclusion: The concentration of serum soluble E-cadherin were higher in OPMDs cases when compared with healthy controlsboth tobacco users and non-users but it was found statistically insignificant. Furthermore, the serum soluble E-cadherin withOPMDs group had a significant association with tobacco user. Risk estimate (odds ratios) showed that tobacco users were 12.43times more at riskto develop OPMDs thannon-usersKeywords: Oral Potential Malignant Disorders (OPMDs), Serum soluble E-cadherins,Oral Squamous CellCarcinoma (OSCC).