Cytogenetic monitoring in human oral cancers and other oral pathology: the micronucleus test in exfoliated buccal cells.
Oral cancer is a lifestyle-related cancer, with tobacco as a primary factor. Progression of oral cancer develops over several years from the stage of leukoplakia, erythroplakia, etc. A micronucleus test was applied to oral mucosal cells, considering them as the target site for carcinogens and cytogenetic damage. The test has been established as a reliable biomarker for differential prevalence of MN indices among oral cancers, pre-cancers, non-malignant oral pathologies, and healthy controls for the first time. Buccal scrapings were collected from 63 patients with cancer and pre-cancerous lesions, 42 with non-malignant oral problems, and 100 healthy controls. The analysis revealed that MN frequencies in cancer and pre-cancerous cases were 4-fold elevated (p < 0.001) and 3.87-fold (p < 0.002) elevated for other non-malignant pathologies. Significant associations between use of tobacco in various forms and development of oral pathologies are also established. The relative cancer risk for smoking healthy controls with a definite MN frequency was also found to be significant. The results indicate the validity of the MN test as a cytogenetic marker for the development of several oral pathologies.
Thalassaemia Research Unit, Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan, Vivekananda Institute of Medical Sciences, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Sumana
S
Chatterjee
Soujatya
S
Dhar
Bani
B
Sengupta
Ashish
A
Ghosh
Manas
M
De
Sumit
S
Roy
Ranjan
R
Raychowdhury
Ranjan Roy
RR
Chowdhury
Sila
S
Chakrabarti
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003582:Cytogenetics / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015162:Micronucleus Tests / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D010339:Pathology, Oral; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000473:pathology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D055815:Young Adult