title: Progress risk assessment of oral premalignant lesions with saliva miRNA analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oral cancer develops through multi-stages: from normal to mild (low grade) dysplasia (LGD), moderate dysplasia, and severe (high grade) dysplasia (HGD), to carcinoma in situ (CIS) and finally invasive oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC). Clinical and histological assessments are not reliable in predicting which precursor lesions will progress. The aim of this study was to assess the potential of a noninvasive approach to assess progress risk of oral precancerous lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We first used microRNA microarray to profile progressing LGD oral premaligant lesions (OPLs) from non-progressing LGD OPLs in order to explore the possible microRNAs deregulated in low grade OPLs which later progressed to HGD or OSCC. We then used RT-qPCR to detect miRNA targets from the microarray results in saliva samples of these patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified a specific miRNA signature that is aberrantly expressed in progressing oral LGD leukoplakias. Similar expression patterns were detected in saliva samples from these patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results show promise for using saliva miRNA signature for monitoring of cancer precursor lesions and early detection of disease progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Dentistry, Ninth People's Hospital, School of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine,Shanghai Key Laboratory of Stomatology, 639 Zhi Zao Ju Road, Shanghai 200011, China.
authors.forename: Ya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yue-xiu
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Zuo-jun
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ya-qin
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007972:Leukoplakia, Oral / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012463:Saliva
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D035683:MicroRNAs