Abstract
Studies have shown that there is a disparity between males and females in south-east Asia with regard to oral cancer morbidity. A previous study found that oral cancer tissue showed loss of heterozygosity of the X-linked lncRNA XIST gene. We suggest that XIST may play an important role in oral cancer morbidity when associated with sex. Saliva contains proteins and RNAs that are potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of diseases. This study investigated salivary XIST expression and the correlation to clinical–pathological data among oral squamous cell carcinoma patients. Salivary XIST expression was only observed in females, and a high proportion of females with OSCC lack salivary lncRNA XIST expression (88%). The expression showed no correlation with alcohol consumption, betel quid chewing, or cigarette smoking habits. People lacking salivary lncRNA XIST expression had a significantly increased odds ratio of suffering from OSCC (OR = 19.556, p < 0.001), particularly females (OR = 33.733, p < 0.001). The ROC curve showed that salivary lncRNA XIST expression has acceptable discrimination accuracy to predict the risk of OSCC (AUC = 0.73, p < 0.01). Lack of salivary lncRNA XIST expression was associated with an increased risk of OSCC. We provided an insight into the role of salivary lncRNA XIST as a biomarker to predict the morbidity of OSCC.
Highlights
According to global statistics published by the World Health Organization, oral cavity cancer is among the most prevalent types of cancer worldwide, with the female to male incidence ratio showing a discrepancy of 2:1 in south-east Asia [1]
The ABC habits cannot explain the increasing trend of young females diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) without performing the ABC habits [3]
This study aims to identify whether salivary lncRNA XIST is associated with OSCC pathogenesis, and whether it could be a salivary biomarker of OSCC
Summary
According to global statistics published by the World Health Organization, oral cavity cancer is among the most prevalent types of cancer worldwide, with the female to male incidence ratio showing a discrepancy of 2:1 in south-east Asia [1]. The ABC habits cannot explain the increasing trend of young females diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) without performing the ABC habits [3]. It is related to tumorigenesis and progression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma [4], small intestinal adenocarcinoma [5], and breast cancer [6]. A previous study revealed that a loss of genomic copy number variants of XIST is shown in the OSCC group [7]. One research article provided evidence of a relationship between XIST and the inhibition of tumor progression in vitro [8]. We suggest that this X-linked gene may be associated with the pathogenesis of oral cancer
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