Failure to detect recurrence and
lymph node metastasis early represents a fundamental barrier to the improvement of survival rate in early stage
oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The present study evaluated the association between serum
interleukin-6 (IL-6) level and clinical outcomes in patients with early stage OSCC patients defined by sentinel node biopsy (SNB). A total of 53 patients with clinical stage I/II OSCC who underwent SNB were enrolled. SNB was determined by a
radioisotope method, and was evaluated by histopathological examination and genetic analysis. Preoperative sera were measured for
IL-6 by ELISA. In the clinical stage I/II patients, disease-free survival (DFS) was demonstrated to be higher in patients with negative SNB compared with patients with positive SNB. In total, 13 patients were demonstrated to exhibit
lymph node metastasis by SNB or were reclassified to pathological stage T4 subsequent to analysis of the surgically resected specimens. Thus, 40 patients were diagnosed with early stage OSCC. Of these 40 patients, DFS of the patients with low serum
IL-6 was significantly higher compared with the patients with high serum
IL-6 (P=0.012). In 19 patients with negative SNB and low serum
IL-6, the disease-free rate was 100%. These findings suggested that SNB staging and serum
IL-6 level have a high prognostic value in patients with early stage OSCC. Additional investigation and longer follow-up times are warranted to improve understanding of the group of patients that may benefit from this procedure.