Abstract: ObjectiveTo detect the level of serum syndecan-1 in patients with oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC), and to investigate the effect of serum syndecan-1 in OTSCC diagnosis and disease progression assessment. MethodsThe serums of a total of 65 OTSCC patients (OTSCC group) and 74 healthy subjects (control group) were collected from March 2015 to June 2017 in the Fourth Hospital of Xi′an. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the level of serum syndecan-1. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was conducted to evaluate the diagnostic value of serum syndecan-1 in OTSCC and its disease progression. ResultsThe level of serum syndecan1 in OTSCC group was significantly lower than that in the control group ［(91.87±33.18)ng/ml vs. (162.32±51.16)ng/ml, t=1.977, P=0.002］. The serum syndecan-1 levels of different TNM stage (F=3.536, P=0.025), tumor invasive depth (F=1.254, P=0.039) and lymph node metastasis (t=2.420, P=0.018) in OTSCC group had statistically significances. ROC curve analysis showed that 95.54 ng/ml serum syndecan-1 ［area under the curve (AUC)=0.944, P＜0.001, 95%CI: 0.915-0.974］ was the cutoff value of OTSCC diagnosis, and 74.54 ng/ml of lymph node metastasis in OTSCC diagnosis (AUC=0.783, P＜0.001, 95%CI: 0.697-0.867). ConclusionSerum syndecan-1 level is markedly decreased in patients with OTSCC, and is valuable to diagnose OTSCC or its lymph node metastasis, which is worthy of clinical application.

Key words: Neoplasms, squamous cell, Mouth neoplasms, Tongue neoplasms, Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Diagnosis, Syndecan-1