Pioneering Clinical Investigation: Beta Defensin Expression in Patients of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Oral Cavity as a Forward-Looking Validation for Molecular Treatment

Human defensins are peptides coded by certain genes released as a part of immune response that act differently to tumorigenic cells according to the class. A varied cellular response has been documented in the world literature concerning the role of defensins in the cancer cell lines, though the exact role in the internal human milieu and the role specific to head and neck cancers is still understudied. This study explores the possible role of Human Beta Defensin (HBD) 1 and 3 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in disease progression and their potential as biomarkers/prognostic markers. Two samples, one from the cancerous tissue and one from the normal tissue margin were taken and sent for molecular analysis, viz. mRNA isolation and PCR. The fold change gene expression of HBD 1 and 3 was calculated using a housekeeping gene, and then, as per the available results, we tried to objectify the relative expression of HBD 3 and HBD 1 and its ratio. Out of the 40 samples, 26 were adequate and processed. Expression of HBD1 (DEFB1) and HBD3 (DEFB-103 A) was assessed. Normal tissues were taken as control. GADPH (Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate dehydrogenase) was used as an internal control. The cycle of quantification (cq) was calculated for the cases and control. A more than two-fold (2.85 times) increase in expression of HBD1 was found; however, no expression of HBD3 was shown in both cancer tissue and control tissue samples. Additional investigations with a larger sample size, encompassing the expression analysis of cancer genes at various clinico-histopathological stages, are imperative before designating them as biomarkers.