Studies on Enzymes of Clinical Significance in Oral Submucous Fibrosis.

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a chronic disease of obscure etiology affecting any part of the oral cavity. Several histologic and epidemiologic studies on this condition have been conducted, but the biochemical aspects have not yet been thoroughly explored. Hence we analyzed the clinically important enzymes in OSMF patients. They were divided into three groups according to the degree of severity of the disease. There was a significant increase in the activities of phosphatases, transaminases, aldolase, 5′-nucleotidase, and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase in OSMF patients as compared with normal subjects. The increase correlated well with the progression of the disease, being the highest in the advanced stage where patients had co-existing carcinoma. The results, it is hoped, will provide a means for classification of diseases at the structural and molecular level so as to highlight a causal nexus between clinical expression of the disease and altered structural and compositional changes in OSMF.