Assessing the role of Osteopontin in prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma- A systematic review

Background: Oral cancer is always a global burden. It is the sixteenth most common cancer. It leads to metastasis since it is often diagnosed at late stages. To monitor the progress of this condition, various biomarkers are being utilized. Osteopontin is one such biomarker and its level in bodily fluids can be used as a reliable biomarker.

Aims and objectives: The current study aims to review and evaluate the prognostic role of osteopontin in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Materials and methods: A literature search was conducted across various databases such as Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar. It yielded 18 articles totally using MeSH terms. The inclusion criteria were original research articles written only in English language involving both tissue and plasma osteopontin on oral cancer patients. Of these, only two articles which met the inclusion criteria were added into this systematic review. The search had no time restriction.

Results: The studies showed that osteopontin play a vital role in the prognosis of the OSCC patients. One study from Taiwan and other from India proved the osteopontin expression in plasma and tissue can help to predict the prognosis of patients with oral cancer. Also, the level of plasma osteopontin was correlated with aggressiveness of OSCC. Tissue osteopontin expression was significantly lower in stage I OSCC patients when compared with stage II and III. Since there were only two studies, there is limited evidence of results.

Conclusion: From these findings, osteopontin can also be used as a reliable biomarker to predict the prognosis of oral cancer. Since there were only two studies to substantiate the finding, there is limited evidence and more studies are warranted to confirm the results.