Objectives: the current study investigated the levels of malondialdehyde & nitric oxide in saliva in oral premalignant and malignant lesions in order to determine their diagnostic value for the malignant and potentially malignant lesions.
Subjects and Methods: A total of 100 subjects diagnosed with keratosis (n=20), leukoplakia (n=20), oral lichen planus (n=20), oral squamous cell carcinoma (n=20) & control group of healthy age- and gender-matched individuals (n=20) were included in this study. Clinical and histopathological examinations were performed to assure diagnosis then salivary samples were collected. Malondialdehyde and nitric oxide were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay technique.
Results: Salivary malondialdehyde and nitric oxide were significantly high in the oral squamous cell carcinoma and oral lichen planus groups, where both showed 100% diagnostic accuracy. Pair-wise comparison between areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve revealed 90% for malondialdehyde and 85% for nitric oxide in the leukoplakia group, showing that malondialdehyde had statistically significantly higher mean areas under the ROC curve than nitric oxide. On comparing both markers in the keratosis group, malondialdehyde and nitric oxide showed 85% and 80% respectively with no statistically significant difference.
Conclusion: malondialdehyde & nitric oxide are noteworthy diagnostic markers that could be utilized in diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma.