Cytogenetic monitoring in human oral cancers and other oral pathology: The micronucleus test in exfoliated buccal cells

Abstract

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.

Keywords::

• Oral cancer
• oral pathology
• lesions
• micronucleus test
• buccal scrapings
• non-malignant
• tobacco

View correction statement:

Corrigendum

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan, Kolkata for giving permission to carry out the study and to National Tea Research Foundation, India for partial financial support.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.