title: Targeting of chemoprevention to high-risk potentially malignant oral lesions: challenges and opportunities.
abstract: Worldwide, oral cancer is responsible for 170,000 deaths per year. Intervention to prevent this disease is a long sought after goal. Chemoprevention studies have focused on clinicopathological features of potentially malignant lesions (PML) in an effort to prevent their progression to cancer. However, prediction of future behavior for such lesions is difficult and remains a major challenge to such intervention. Different approaches to this problem have been tested in the past 20years. Early genetic progression models identified critical regions of allelic imbalance at 3p and 9p, and provided the basis for molecular markers to identify progressing PMLs. Subsequently, technological advances, such as genome-wide high-throughput array platforms, computer imaging, visualization technology and next generation sequencing, have broadened the scope for marker development and have the potential of further improving our ability to identify high-risk lesions in the near future either alone or in combination. In this article, we examine the milestones in the development of markers for PML progression. We emphasize the critical importance of networks among scientists, health professionals and community to facilitate the validation and application of putative markers into clinical practice. With a growing number of new agents to validate, it is necessary to coordinate the design and implementation of strategies for patient recruitment, integration of marker assessment, and the final translation of such approaches into clinical use.
authors.affiliation: BC Cancer Research Centre, Department of Integrative Oncology, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: Victor D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.affiliation: BC Cancer Research Centre, Department of Integrative Oncology, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: Calum E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: MacAulay
authors.affiliation: BC Cancer Research Centre, Department of Integrative Oncology, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: Martial
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guillaud
authors.affiliation: BC Cancer Research Centre, Department of Integrative Oncology, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: Wan L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: Lewei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Kitty K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Corbett
authors.affiliation: BC Cancer Research Centre, Department of Cancer Control Research, Vancouver, Canada; Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Electronic address: mrosin@bccrc.ca.
authors.forename: Miriam P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Rosin
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor
keywords: Knowledge translation; Loss-of-heterozygosity; Oral potentially malignant lesions; Oral premalignant lesions; Progression markers