Marmara University, Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Biochemistry, Nisantasi, Istanbul, Turkey.
Med Chem. 2011 Sep;7(5):443-7. doi: 10.2174/157340611796799230.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women living in the Western world, even though it occurs worldwide. Cancer and cancer therapy induce multiple oral complications including dental and periodontal disease. Saliva is a complex and dynamic biologic fluid, which reflects both oral and systemic changes. While saliva is easily accessible body fluid, there has been little effort to study its value in cancer diagnosis. Sialic acids (SA), the end moieties of the carbohydrate chains, are biologically important and essential for functions of glycoconjugates that are reported to be altered in both blood and saliva of various cancer patients. Increased sialylation has been shown to be a characteristic feature in cancer tissue and blood in breast cancer patients. However, there is no data about salivary SA in breast cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate salivary total sialic acid (TSA) levels in breast cancer patients who were under chemotheraphy. The study included 15 breast cancer patients in different stages and 10 healthy individuals as age-matched controls. Unstimulated whole saliva was collected. Salivary total protein and SA levels were determined. Flow rate was calculated from salivary volume by the time of secretion. Salivary SA was significantly higher and total protein was lower in breast cancer patients compared to controls. It is concluded that sialylation may be increased in saliva of patients with breast cancer as the same way for cancer tissue and for blood . Increased salivary SA may therefore be useful as a non-invasive predictive marker for breast cancer patients and for the prevention and management of oral complications of cancer and cancer therapy to improve oral function and quality-of-life. The effects of different types of chemotherapies and different stages of the disease on salivary SA levels and salivary sialo-glycomic are worthy of being further investigated in breast cancer patients.
乳腺癌是生活在西方世界的女性中最常见的癌症，尽管它也发生在世界各地。癌症和癌症治疗会引起多种口腔并发症，包括牙齿和牙周疾病。唾液是一种复杂而动态的生物液体，它反映了口腔和全身的变化。虽然唾液是一种容易获得的体液，但人们很少努力研究其在癌症诊断中的价值。唾液酸（SA）是碳水化合物链的末端基团，在糖缀合物的功能中具有重要的生物学意义，并且据报道，各种癌症患者的血液和唾液中的糖缀合物的功能都发生了改变。已经表明，在乳腺癌患者的癌症组织和血液中，唾液酸化增加是一个特征。然而，关于乳腺癌患者的唾液 SA 尚无数据。本研究旨在评估正在接受化疗的乳腺癌患者的唾液总唾液酸（TSA）水平。该研究包括 15 名处于不同阶段的乳腺癌患者和 10 名年龄匹配的健康个体作为对照组。收集未刺激的全唾液。测定唾液总蛋白和 SA 水平。通过分泌时间计算唾液流速。与对照组相比，乳腺癌患者的唾液 SA 明显升高，总蛋白降低。因此，可以得出结论，唾液酸化可能在乳腺癌患者的唾液中增加，就像癌症组织和血液中的情况一样。因此，增加的唾液 SA 可能作为一种非侵入性的预测标志物，用于乳腺癌患者，并用于预防和管理癌症和癌症治疗的口腔并发症，以改善口腔功能和生活质量。不同类型的化疗和疾病的不同阶段对唾液 SA 水平和唾液唾液糖的影响值得在乳腺癌患者中进一步研究。
