Oral cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide. The one year data collection regarding the treatment of head and neck cancers in Pakistan showed that the area of rural Sindh comprises of greater frequency of head and neck cancer, which is around 22.6%, than Punjab having 13.4%, Islamabad 13.1%, Balochistan 11.4% and Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa 8.6%. A five-year survival rate for oral and pharyngeal cancer is about 50% for both genders. 1 The most prevalent form of oral carcinoma in South and South-East Asian region is squamous cell carcinoma, which is around 95%. This occurs because of the excessive use of smokeless tobacco (SLT) including naswar, betel nut, pan, areca nut, cigarette smoking, smokeless tobacco, and gutka. More than 90% of the smokeless tobacco consumed worldwide is limited to South-East Asia, which makes an estimation of about 100 million people using SLT in India and Pakistan only. 2 A meta-analysis in Cochrane review regarding the screening for oral cancer claims that there is a lack of strong evidence of any reliable screening procedure for reducing the mortality rate in screened groups. 3 Therefore, early detection of oral malignancy greatly ameliorates the chances of survival. Saliva has a number of benefits of a noninvasive procedure of sample collection, smaller sample requirement, good cooperation of patients being a stress, free and painless procedure, easy transportation and storage, higher sensitivity and specificity, and a source of diverse constituents. 4 Cytokines like interleukins (IL) e.g. interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1), interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1) and the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-) increase cell growth, invading and disrupting the mechanisms of tumor suppression and host immune status, resulting in development of cancer. Several proinflammatory cytokines like IL-1, IL-6, IL-8, TNF- and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) are detected in increased amounts in the tissues and serum of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients. 5 These molecular biomarkers, especially salivary IL-8, may become a potential useful screening tool for oral cancer in wide application as it plays an important role in many physiologic and pathologic activities going on in the body. The aim of this study was to evaluate any change in the levels of interleukin-8 cytokine in relation to naswar and to predict the usefulness of this particular biomarker in the early detection of oral cancer in high risk groups; and hence, reducing the risk of development of cancer and improving the survival rate of the patient. A comparative cross-sectional study approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB No: F.2-11/SZAMBU/ AS&RB/2015/) was conducted from August 2016 to August 2017 in a multicentre setting including Islamabad Dental Hospital and Akbar Niazi Teaching Hospital (ANTH). The total sample size was 60, with 30 subjects in the control group: non-users, and the study group: naswar users; inducting using non-probability, con- venience sampling technique. The study included Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan 2020, Vol. 30 (1): 99-101 99 SHORT COMMUNICATION Salivary Biomarker Interleukin-8 Levels in Naswar Users and Non-users Kanwal Sohail 1 , Khalid Mahmood Siddiqi 2 , Muhammad Zeeshan Baig 2 , Haafsa Arshad Sahibzada 1 and Shahida Maqbool 1 Department of Oral Medicine 1 / Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 2 , Islamabad Medical and Dental College, Islamabad, Pakistan ABSTRACT Salivary biomarkers can be used as diagnostic and predictive aids in early detection of oral cancer or potentially malignant disorders. A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted over a period of one year from August 2016 to August 2017 in a multicentre setting in Islamabad. A total of 60 patients were recruited and divided into two equal groups of naswar users and non-users. Un-stimulated saliva samples were collected and analysed by using an enzyme-linked immuno- sorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Data was entered in SPSS version 22.0. The results were then analysed by using independent t-test. Statistically significant difference was found regarding the levels of salivary IL-8 between the naswar users and non-users (p <0.001). The levels of salivary IL-8 in non-users were 33.39 ±22.44 pg/ml, while the increased levels of salivary IL-8 in naswar users were found to be 173.48 ±46.52 pg/ml. Key Words: Interleukin-8, Smokeless tobacco, Saliva, Proteomics, Early diagnosis. How to cite this article: Sohail K, Siddiqi KM, Baig MZ, Sahibzada HA, Maqbool S. Salivary biomarker interleukin-8 levels in naswar users and non-users. J Coll Physicians Surg Pak 2020; 30(1):99-101. Correspondence to: Dr. Kanwal Sohail, Department of Oral Medicine, Islamabad Medical and Dental College, Islamabad, Pakistan E-mail: drkanwalsa@gmail.com Received: October 29, 2018; Revised: March 18, 2019; Accepted: July 04, 2019