Medical Sciences
Prognostic Value and Stage/Nodal Correlates of Serum and Salivary CRP, CYFRA 21-1, and SCC-Ag Biomarkers in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
By Balen Hamid Qadir, Mohammed Khalid Mahmood, Hazha Abdulla Mohammed Ameen and 4 others.
Abstract
Background
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has a relatively poor survival, and TNM staging alone offers limited prognostic discrimination. C-reactive protein (CRP) is a non-specific inflammatory marker and is one of the most studied candidate prognostic biomarkers of OSCC, while CYFRA 21-1 and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-Ag) are tumor-derived keratin proteins reflecting malignant cell turnover, often examined alongside CRP. However, no prior review has synthesized the value of these three markers together in OSCC.