Title

Comparative levels of salivary oxidative stress markers in oral precancer and oral cancer patients

Authors

Rashmi Christin Kerketta^1,*, Pradeep Kumar Yadav², T Litha³, Maheshwari Shanmugam⁴, Susmit Sneha⁵, Kohinoor Acharya⁶ & Miral Mehta⁷

Affiliation

¹Department of Oral Pathology & Microbiology, Government Dental College, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India; ²Dental officer, ECHS Polyclinic, Jashpur, Chhattisgarh, India; ³Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Farooqia Dental College & Hospital, Mysuru, Karnataka, India; ⁴Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, JKKN Dental College and Hospital, Komarapalayam, India; ⁵Medical Officer (NOHP), Uttar Pradesh Government, Uttar Pradesh, India; ⁶Department Oral Maxillofacial Surgery, HI-Tech Dental College and hospital, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India; ⁷Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Karnavati School of Dentistry, Karnavati University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Rashmi Christin Kerketta - E-mail: rashiichristin@gmail.com
Pradeep Kumar Yadav - E-mail: pradeepbds87@gmail.com
T Litha - E-mail: drlithathomas@gmail.com
Maheshwari Shanmugam - E-mail: dr.s.maheshwarii@gmail.com
Susmit Sneha - E-mail: susmit.sneha@gmail.com
Kohinoor Acharya - E-mail: kohinoor.acharya96@gmail.com
Miral Mehta - E-mail: miral9829@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received November 15, 2025; Revised December 15, 2025; Accepted December 15, 2025, Published December 15, 2025

Abstract

Oxidative stress is a major factor in oral carcinogenesis, but a comparative comparison of salivary biomarkers in different stages of disease development has not been fully described. This case-control study compared the levels of salivary oxidative stress in 180 participants (n= 60 healthy controls, n=60 oral precancer and n=60 oral cancer). The malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in saliva were measured by spectrophotometric and enzyme assays. The outcome showed greatly high levels of MDA and exhausted antioxidant enzyme activities in patients with cancer in comparison to the precancer and control conditions (p<0.001) and there was progressive worsening in relation to the progress of disease. Thus, we show the possible application of salivary oxidative stress measurements to be used as a non-invasive diagnostic and prognostic method of oral cancer to aid in the early diagnosis and risk stratification of susceptible groups.

Keywords

Saliva, stress markers, oral pre cancer, cancer.

Citation

Kerketta et al. Bioinformation 21(12): 4962-4967 (2025)

Edited by

Vini Mehta

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.