The comparative evaluation of salivary survivin levels between different grades of oral squamous cell carcinoma

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounts to the 6th most common cancer worldwide with high rate of mortality. Timely detection helps in improving the prognosis and survival rates. Deregulated expression of inhibitor of apoptotic (IAP) (programmed cell death) pathway mainly contributes to carcinogenesis by aberrantly extending cellular viability. Survivin is one such marker that belongs to the IAP protein family, expressed in tissue, serum, and other body fluids of patients with proliferating cells. The present study aimed to investigate survivin expression in salivary secretions of patients with various grades of OSCC. Methods: A total of 76 participants in the age range of 25–80 years were included in the study. Thirty eight histologically confirmed patients with various grades OSCC (well differentiated – 18, moderately differentiated – 10, and poorly differentiated – 10) and 38 healthy individuals were subjected to expectorate the unstimulated whole saliva. The salivary survivin estimation was performed using the Quantikine human enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit and comparisons were made. Results: The mean survivin levels were found to be statistically significant among OSCC and healthy individuals with much higher levels (9.51 pg/dl) observed in OSCC patients compared to healthy individuals (2.69 pg/ml). The levels of salivary survivin were found to be elevated in poorly differentiated (12.21 pg/ml) than moderately (9.80 pg/ml) and well-differentiated (7.84 pg/ml) OSCC patients. Conclusions: The study findings highlighted considerable increase in salivary survivin levels in different grades of OSCC patients as compared to healthy individuals.