Over 90% of head and
neck cancers are
squamous cell carcinomas (
HNSCC) and the overall 5-year survival rate is up to 50%. The redox status of these
cancers is an important factor in
carcinogenesis and plays a role in radioresistance and therefore locoregional recurrences. However, knowledge of the redox status is rather limited.
Glutathione is the major
reactive oxygen species scavenger in normal cells. We compared the levels of tissue redox potential in
HNSCC tumor tissue and compared them with those of the adjacent, histologically
cancer-free, mucosa. A total of 36 patients with
HNSCC were included in the study. The redox status of
tumor and normal adjacent tissue was measured by the oxidized/
reduced glutathione (
GSSG/GSH) ratio in capillary electrophoresis. The
GSSG/GSH ratio in the
tumor tissue was lower compared with adjacent normal tissue in 38% of the patients. Pretherapy
HNSCC tumor tissue has variable GSH levels compared with adjacent
cancer-free mucosa. This difference was not related to clinical and pathological parameters. Further studies are required to determine whether the
GSSG/GSH ratio plays a role in
carcinogenesis and could predict radioresistance.