Vitamin C Status in Oral Cancer Patients

Uplabdhi Raghuwanshi¹, S.C. Choudhari² and Ranjit Patil³

¹Department of Medical Biochemistry, B. J. Medical College, Pune, India.

²Department of Medical Biochemistry, Govt. Medical College, Miraj, India.

³Department of Madical Biochemistry, Dr. Ulhas Patil Medical College Jalgaon, India.

Corresponding Author E-mail: uplabdhir@yahoo.com

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/1075

ABSTRACT:

Oral cancer is the most common malignancies in India accounting 30-40% of all cancers.13 Free-radical induced damage is an important factor in oral carcinoma. Antioxidants, particularly vitamin C, have been shown to inhibit both initiation & promotion in carcinogenesis & counteract cell immortalization & transformation. Lipid peroxidation byproducts formed under physiological & pathological conditions are also scavenged by such non-enzymatic antioxidants.9 Though several studies have been made which attempt to evaluate the levels of vitamin C, only a few are available w r t different grades of oral cancer. This aspect is studied in present work. Tobacco is a known risk factor in progression of this disease. The oral cancer model has therefore become an ideal model for studies on antioxidant levels because tobacco consumption exposes the oral epithelium to toxic oxygen & nitrogen free radicals that can affect host antioxidant defense mechanisms with non-enzymatic antioxidants like vitamin C. Thirty healthy subjects & histopathologically-diagnosed patients (n = 30) of oral squamous cell carcinoma [grade I & grade II] were included. Serum vitamin C levels were estimated by method of Ayekyaw (1978).1 Vitamin C levels showed a highly significant decrease in oral cancer patients w r t to control group which concluded an inverse relationship with the severity of disease (p <0.001). Similar results were obtained when grade I & II patients were compared with control (p<0.001). Though all patients were tobacco chewers & showed a decreasing trend in vitamin level, gutkha chewers showed much lower levels as compared to pan chewers (p < 0.001 Vs control). Therapeutic measures to increase antioxidants, particularly vitamin C, are warranted for effective control. Measurement of vitamin C in circulation of oral cancer patients may be a useful index in assessing the tumor grades of patients. In conclusion, a decrease in vitamin C & long-term inflammation caused by smokeless tobacco, particularly gutkha, may be regarded as risk factors for oral carcinogenesis.

KEYWORDS: ascorbic acid; oral squamous cell carcinoma; non-enzymatic antioxidant.

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