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Photo-stability of urine is of crucial importance for the applicability of fluorescence spectroscopy of urine samples for diagnosis of cancer. We report the results of a detailed study on fluorescence photo-bleaching of human urine samples. We also present the results of a preliminary investigation on evaluation of the applicability of photo-bleaching characteristics of urine for discriminating patients with oral cancer from healthy volunteers. The time-lapse fluorescence induced by continuous shining of 405 nm radiation from a diode laser was recorded from the urine samples obtained from 18 patients with oral cancer as well as from 22 healthy volunteers with history of no known major illness in the past two months. The integrated fluorescence intensity (ΣI), calculated for each spectrum, was found to decrease with time till a point after which no further decrease was observed. Further, while significant differences were observed in the spectra of cancerous patients and healthy volunteers, these differences were found to be varying with time till the intensities of the observed fluorescence spectra corresponding to the two categories of urine samples became stable. The curve, generated by plotting ΣI vs. time, was found to be best fitted (R 2  > 0.95) with a double-exponential decay function. The photo-bleaching constants, obtained from curve-fitting, were found to have statistically significant differences corresponding to the urine samples of cancerous patients and healthy volunteers. A classification algorithm developed based on nearest-mean classifier (NMC) and applied on the photo-bleaching constants in leave-one-subject-out cross-validation mode was found to provide a sensitivity and specificity of up to ∼ 86% in discriminating the two categories of urine samples., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Urine has emerged as one of the diagnostically potential bio fluids, as it has many metabolites. As the concentration and the physiochemical properties of the urinary metabolites may vary under pathological transformation, Raman spectroscopic characterization of urine has been exploited as a significant tool in identifying several diseased conditions, including cancers. In the present study, an attempt was made to study the high wavenumber (HWVN) Raman spectroscopic characterization of urine samples of normal subjects, oral premalignant and malignant patients. It is concluded that the urinary metabolites flavoproteins, tryptophan and phenylalanine are responsible for the observed spectral variations between the normal and abnormal groups. Principal component analysis-based linear discriminant analysis was carried out to verify the diagnostic potentiality of the present technique. The discriminant analysis performed across normal and oral premalignant subjects classifies 95.6% of the original and 94.9% of the cross-validated grouped cases correctly. In the second analysis performed across normal and oral malignant groups, the accuracy of the original and cross-validated grouped cases was 96.4% and 92.1% respectively. Similarly, the third analysis performed across three groups, normal, oral premalignant and malignant groups, classifies 93.3% and 91.2% of the original and cross-validated grouped cases correctly., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2)-derived prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) plays a role in the development and progression of epithelial malignancies. Measurements of urinary PGE-M, a stable metabolite of PGE2, reflect systemic PGE2 levels. Here, we investigated whether urinary PGE-M levels were elevated in healthy tobacco users and in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Median urinary PGE-M levels were increased in healthy tobacco quid chewers [21.3 ng/mg creatinine (Cr); n = 33; P = 0.03] and smokers (32.1 ng/mg Cr; n = 31; P < 0.001) compared with never tobacco quid chewers-never smokers (18.8 ng/mg Cr; n = 30). Urinary PGE-M levels were also compared in OSCC patients versus healthy tobacco users. An approximately 1-fold increase in median urinary PGE-M level was found in OSCC patients (48.7 ng/mg Cr, n = 78) versus healthy controls (24.5 ng/mg Cr, n = 64; P < 0.001). We further determined whether baseline urinary PGE-M levels were prognostic in OSCC patients who underwent treatment with curative intent. A nearly 1-fold increase in baseline urinary PGE-M levels (64.7 vs. 33.8 ng/mg Cr, P < 0.001) was found in the group of OSCC patients who progressed (n = 37) compared with the group that remained progression free (n = 41). Patients with high baseline levels of urinary PGE-M had both worse disease-specific survival [HR, 1.01 per unit increase; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.01-1.02; P < 0.001] and overall survival (HR, 1.01 per unit increase; 95% CI, 1.00-1.02; P = 0.03). Taken together, our findings raise the possibility that NSAIDs, prototypic inhibitors of PGE2 synthesis, may be beneficial for reducing the risk of tobacco-related aerodigestive malignancies or treating OSCC patients with high urinary PGE-M levels. Cancer Prev Res; 9(6); 428-36. ©2016 AACR., (©2016 American Association for Cancer Research.)

Context: Recently, non-communicable diseases have snatched the lead from infectious diseases in causing mortality. Of these, oral cancer accounts for a significant proportion of deaths. Every year in India significant percentage of newly diagnosed malignancy is oral cancer attributed to various reasons., Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the extent of oxidative stress and its effect on modification of DNA by urinary nucleoside 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels in oral cancer subjects. To see the relationship between the nucleoside 8-OHdG and antioxidant capacity ferric reducing ability plasma (FRAP) in oral cancer subjects., Settings and Design: Case-control study included three groups with 60 volunteers, who were divided into 30 controls, and equal number of clinically diagnosed oral cancer male patients: (Subdivided into newly diagnosed [n = 15] and 1-year treatment follow-up oral cancer subjects [n = 15])., Materials and Methods: A random urine sample was used for analysis of 8-OHdG concentration. Serum triglycerides, lipid peroxidation, protein thiols, and FRAP assay were performed by spectrophotometric technique., Statistical Analysis Used: Student's t-test and one-way analysis of variance were performed for group comparison and Pearson's correlation analysis were used. A P < 0.05 was considered the optimum level of significance., Results: The urinary 8-OHdG and serum malondialdehyde levels were significantly elevated in newly diagnosed oral cancer subjects in their 1-year treatment compared to the control group (P < 0.05). A significant correlation was observed between urinary 8-OHdG and FRAP in both groups of oral cancer subjects., Conclusions: Urinary 8-OHdG can be a useful diagnostic marker of oxidative DNA damage in oral cancer subjects.

Improvements in analytical technologies have made it possible to rapidly determine the concentrations of thousands of metabolites in any biological sample, which has resulted in metabolome analysis being applied to various types of research, such as clinical, cell biology, and plant/food science studies. The metabolome represents all of the end products and by-products of the numerous complex metabolic pathways operating in a biological system. Thus, metabolome analysis allows one to survey the global changes in an organism's metabolic profile and gain a holistic understanding of the changes that occur in organisms during various biological processes, e.g., during disease development. In clinical metabolomic studies, there is a strong possibility that differences in the metabolic profiles of human specimens reflect disease-specific states. Recently, metabolome analysis of biofluids, e.g., blood, urine, or saliva, has been increasingly used for biomarker discovery and disease diagnosis. Mass spectrometry-based techniques have been extensively used for metabolome analysis because they exhibit high selectivity and sensitivity during the identification and quantification of metabolites. Here, we describe metabolome analysis using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry. Furthermore, the findings of studies that attempted to discover biomarkers of gastroenterological cancer are also outlined. Finally, we discuss metabolome analysis-based disease diagnosis., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Oral cancer is the sixth common cancer in the world, and precisely distinguishing health control, benign and malignant oral tumors is important for the proper and timely selection of therapeutic treatment. In the current study, the metabolic profiles of the plasma, urine and saliva of three groups, consisting of malignant oral tumor patients, benign oral tumor patients and healthy controls, were analyzed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Utilizing a partial least squares-discriminant analysis with orthogonal signal correction data filter, the three groups were discriminated based on their plasma, urine and saliva metabolic profiles. Nineteen differential metabolites were identified including 3 acylcarnitines and 4 lyso-phosphatidylcholines in plasma, 3 amino acids and 2 organic acids in urine, 4 organic acids and 3 other metabolites in saliva. The identified metabolites were studied in the context of the pathways in which they were involved and their biological activities. The results indicated that benign and malignant oral tumor patients have altered energy metabolism, disordered lipolysis compared with healthy controls. Furthermore malignant oral tumor patients even present a distorted Krebs cycle and inositol metabolism.

Objective: Oral cancer is the leading malignancy in India, with tobacco playing a major role in the etiology. The aim of the present study was to quantify nitrate+nitrite (NO2+NO3) in tobacco products as well as to study tobacco exposure related biomarkers in controls, patients with oral precancers (OPC) and oral cancer patients., Materials & Methods: Healthy individuals (n=90) were grouped into without habit of tobacco (NHT, n=30) and healthy individuals with habit of tobacco (WHT, n=60). Oral cancer patients with a tobacco habit were classified into abstinence (n=62) and non-abstinence (n=64) groups according to status at the study time. Urinary nicotine and cotinine levels were analyzed by modified high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) using a UV detector. Levels of NO2+NO3 in tobacco and urine, and urinary thioether levels were estimated by spectrophotometry., Results: NO2+NO3 levels in different types of tobacco product ranged between 0.13 to 3.39 mg/g. The Odds Ratio (OR) analysis indicated positive associations of both smoking and chewing habits of tobacco with high risk of development of oral cancer. Urinary nicotine, cotinine and NO2+NO3 levels were significantly elevated in WHT, patients with OPC and oral cancer patients as compared with the NHT group. This was also the case for urinary thioether levels. Levels of urinary nicotine and cotinine were also higher in the non-abstinence group with oral cancers., Conclusion: The results confirmed that tobacco chewing and smoking habits are prominent risk factors for development of oral cancer in the western part of India (Gujarat). Urinary nicotine, cotinine, NO2+NO3 and thioether levels can be helpful for screening programs for oral cancer.

The presence of an oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) may be associated with increased urinary excretion of the markers of collagen degradation, hydroxylysylpyridinoline (HP) and lysylpyridinoline (LP). We investigated the possibility of these markers predicting the presence of active disease. Patients from a current study on HP and LP were included as follows: Group 1a (OSCC with confirmed mandibular bony infiltration, n=12), group 1b (group 1a patients >6 months after successful treatment), group 2a (OSCC without evidence of mandibular bone infiltration, n=8), group 2b (group 2a patients >6 months after successful treatment), group 3a (recurrent OSCC, n=8), group 3b (group 3a patients >6 weeks later, symptoms unchanged) and group 4 (control group, n=74). Tissue samples from tumour tissue and adjacent healthy mucosa were additionally investigated for HP and LP concentrations (n=8). The decrease in the urinary concentrations of HP and LP was statistically significant between groups 1a and 1b (P<0.001 for HP and LP), but not between groups 2a and 2b (P=0.07 for HP and LP), while values in groups 1b and 2b were within the normal range. When comparing groups 3a and 3b, a significant increase was observed for LP (P=0.050), but not HP (P=0.208). In conclusion, successful treatment of OSCC with bony involvement may be associated with a reduction of urinary HP and LP, whereas ongoing disease may result in an increase of LP. HP and LP may both be useful markers of tumour progression in patients with OSCC.

Lysylpyridinoline (LP) and hydroxylysylpyridinoline (HP) are collagen crosslink residues of which the urinary concentration reflects the level of connective-tissue turnover. HP is ubiquitous in tissue, whereas LP is specific for bone. The purpose of this investigation was to assess the sensitivity and specificity of an increased urinary concentration of both HP and LP in indicating infiltration of mandibular bone by an oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) or recurrence of the disease after successful therapy. We investigated the history and urine levels in 116 adult patients, who were divided into the following groups. Group 1: patients with OSCC with bone infiltration (n=17); group 2: patients with confirmed OSCC (n=12) without evidence of bone infiltration; group 3: patients with recurrence of an OSCC (n=13); group 4: patients without clinical evidence of disease (n=74). The range and upper limit of normal values (HP(max) and LP(max)) were measured from the normal controls in group 4. Levels of LP and HP were measured by HPLC and fluorescence detection. There was a significant difference in the average urinary levels of LP and HP between groups 1-4 (P<0.001). The presence of mandibular bone infiltration could be detected with a sensitivity and specificity of 100% when comparing groups 1 and 2. Presence of tumour tissue could be detected with a sensitivity of 90%. In conclusion, a normal LP concentration in patients with an OSCC strongly suggests that bone invasion by the disease has not taken place. If both urinary HP and LP are elevated, disease recurrence is highly likely.

Concentrations of neopterin, which is produced by human monocytes/macrophages upon stimulation by interferon-gamma, were measured in urine specimens in 23 patients with squamous-cell carcinoma of the oral cavity at diagnosis and in 12 treated patients with the same disease when recurrence of the tumor was recognized. Tumor histology and routine laboratory parameters were concomitantly determined. Urinary neopterin values showed no statistically significant correlation with tumor differentiation, tumor size or patient age, but they were significantly higher in patients with a recurrent tumor. Patients were followed for up to 4 years, and the ability of all variables to predict fatal outcome was assessed. In univariate analysis, only neopterin (p = 0.01) and the variable recurrent vs. first-diagnosed tumor were significant predictors of survival. In multivariate analysis, a combination of neopterin (p < 0.01) and the variable recurrent vs. first-diagnosed tumor (p = 0.06) was found to jointly predict survival. Thus, urinary neopterin concentrations provide valuable prognostic information in patients with squamous-cell carcinoma of the oral cavity.

It is known that some modified, especially methylated, nucleosides originating from RNA degradation are excreted in abnormal levels in the urine of patients with malignant tumours and they have been proposed as tumour markers. Their measurement could provide a non-invasive diagnostic method, be helpful in the identification of different cancers and in the monitoring of therapeutic effects. In this study, we developed and optimized an analytical procedure to isolate and quantify normal and modified ribonucleosides. The extraction of urinary nucleosides was performed by affinity chromatography on a phenylboronic acid column prior to separation. The reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method allowed a complete separation of sixteen urinary ribonucleosides. The recoveries for the different nucleosides ranged from 83 to 100%, except for xanthosine (66%) and pseudouridine (74%). In normal 24 h urine, the mean levels of thirteen nucleosides (in nmol of nucleoside/mumol of creatinine) were found to be as follows: dihydrouridine (6.37), pseudouridine (25.52), cytidine (0.07), uridine (0.21), 1-methyladenosine (2.19), inosine (0.30), guanosine (0.06), xanthosine (0.59), 3-methyluridine (0.11), 1-methylinosine (1.13). 1-methylguanosine (0.74), adenosine (0.21) and 5'-deoxy-5'-methylthioadenosine (0.12). The first results concerning two kinds of tumours, i.e. breast and floor of mouth tumours, showed some abnormal levels of ribonucleosides. Further experiments are now in progress to measure the modified nucleosides in urine of patients with different forms of cancer.

Urinary neopterin concentrations were studied in 30 patients with squamous carcinoma or adenoid cystic carcinoma of the oral cavity. Compared to healthy controls 19 patients (63%) had increased neopterin concentrations. There was a statistically significant correlation between neopterin levels and tumor differentiation but no correlation of neopterin values with tumor size. Longitudinal studies will be necessary to evaluate a potential usefulness of neopterin concentrations to predict prognosis in squamous carcinomas of the oral cavity.

A sensitive procedure to quantitate human exposure to endogenous N-nitroso compounds (NOC) has been developed. It is based on the excretion of N-nitrosoproline (NPRO) and other N-nitrosamino acids in the urine, which are measured as an index of endogenous nitrosation, following ingestion of precursors. The NPRO test has been applied to human subjects in clinical and epidemiological studies, and the kinetics and dietary modifiers of endogenous nitrosation have been investigated. Results obtained after application of the NPRO test to subjects at high risk for cancers of the stomach, oesophagus, oral cavity and urinary bladder are summarized. In most instances, higher exposures to endogenous NOC were found in high-risk subjects, but individual exposure was greatly affected by dietary modifiers or disease state. Vitamin C efficiently lowered the body burden of intragastrically formed NOC. The results point to an aetiological role of NOC in these human cancers and provide an interpretation of epidemiological findings that have shown protective effects of fruits and vegetables against several malignancies.