Publications of Faculty of Medicine:Evaluation of Leucine Aminopeptidase and Superoxide Dismutase as Markers in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: Abstract

Title:
Evaluation of Leucine Aminopeptidase and Superoxide Dismutase as Markers in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
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Abstract:

This study was designed to define changes of leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) and total superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients after radiotherapy as a trial to correlate these parameters with disease activity and response to treatment. The study comprised 20 patients with NPC and 20 control subjects of those attending blood bank for blood donation. All patients underwent detailed history taking, fill] ENT clinical examination, and general examination for draining lymph nodes. Lesions' characters and TNM staging were determined. All study participants gave blood samples for estimation of total blood SOD and serum LAP (pre-treatment) and were re-estimated 2 and 4 months after radiotherapy. There was a significant (P<0.05) increase in patients' age and number of males (18:2) with significant increased incidence in smokers (16:4) . Eleven patients had stage I, 4 patients had stage H and 5 had stage III lesions. All patients with stage II and III lesions and 7 with stage I were smokers. Pre-treatment levels of LAP showed a significant (P<0.05) increase compared both to control, 2-m and 4-m levels with progressive steady decease with treatment. The levels detected 4-m after treatment showed a non-significant difference compared to control levels. The pretreatment SOD levels showed a significant (P<0.05) increase compared to both control and 4-m levels. Also, the SOD levels detected 2-m after treatment showed a significant (P<0.05) increase compared both to control and 4-m levels. There was a positive significant correlation between pretreatment levels of LAP, (r=0.851, P<0.001) and SOD, (r=0.643, P=0.002) and progress of tumor growth manifested as stage. We can conclude that pretreatment determination of total SOD and serum LAP correlate with severity and aggressiveness of NPC and could be used as an aid for staging. Furthermore, serum LAP correlates with response of NPC to radiotherapy and could be used to follow-up patients and as a prognostic marker.