Role of Smoking-Mediated molecular events in the genesis of oral cancers

Abstract

Smoking is a pernicious practice prevalent worldwide. It involves breathing of burnt-tobacco fumes/smoke which comprises of numerous chemical entities posing deleterious aftermaths in the oral cavity. Tobacco fumes carry carcinogens and damaging chemicals like nitrosamines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, aldehydes, nicotine, phenols, carbon monoxides, radioactive elements, heavy metal ions. Oral cavity (mouth or buccal cavity), forming initial contacts with tobacco smokables, plays an essential role in the digestive system, facial determinations and speech. Smoking is a significant risk factor for oral cavity cancers. Nearly 50% of deaths from oral cavity cancer (oral cancer) attribute to smoking. This review intends to focus on the smoking mediated molecular modulations that are associated with the genesis of oral cancers.

Keywords:

• Oral cancers
• smoking
• tobacco
• oral squamous cell carcinoma
• genes
• proteins

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors are highly grateful to the University Grants Commission (UGC), India, for the financial support [F.4-1/2006(BSR) 7-357/2011(BSR); 22^nd Oct ‘13] to Sapna Khowal (UGC-BSR fellow) during this study.