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INTRODUCTION:Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide with high mortality rate. Conventional treatment strategies have improved but remain far from optimal. Cancer research is focused on improving cancer diagnosis and treatment methods using nanotechnology, by the production and application of nanoscale drug delivery systems. In medicine, several types of nanoparticles have evolved, gold nanoparticle (AuNPs) are an excellent candidate as drug delivery vehicle due to their favorable chemical and optical properties. Paclitaxel (PTX) is an effective antineoplastic drug that has a wide spectrum of antitumor activity, against head and neck malignancies. The encapsulation of PTX in nanodelivery systems can protect the drug from degradation during circulation and protect the body from its toxic side effects. OBJECTIVES: To study the therapeutic efficacy of PTX-functionalized AuNPs versus the free form of the drug. Also the study will evaluate the treatment, by the use of proliferative immune-histochemical marker (PCNA). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Squamous cell carcinoma will be chemically induced in sixty Syrian hamsters. Then they will be divided into three groups, 20 in each. One group will be treated with free PTX, another group will be treated with PTX-AuNPs, and the last group will be given saline as negative control group. RESULTS: Group treated by PTX loaded on AuNPs showed significant results over group treated by free PTX. CONCLUSIONS: The unique AuNPs properties in combination to the chemotherapeutic drug target cancer cells while maintaining no adverse effects on the surrounding normal cells.

INTRODUCTION:Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most widely occurring cancer worldwide. It represents the tenth most common cancer affecting the world population. Like all other tumors, malignant epithelial cells of the OSCC need adequate blood supply and thus tend to recruit new blood vessels by Angiogenesis (the formation of new vessels by sprouting of the pre-existing endothelium). The major regulators of blood and lymph vessel development are the members of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) family. These are multifunctional proteins mainly involved in normal and pathologic angiogenesis. Accordingly, there is an increasing interest in evaluating the diagnostic and prognostic value of VEGF family OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the expression of VEGF-A in OSCC and to correlate it with both histopathological grading and clinical data. MATERIALS AND METHODS:This study includes 20 patients with OSCC. The lesions of concern were clinically examined and biopsied. The tissue biopsies, as well as five negative control specimens, were processed and paraffin sections were prepared. Hematoxylin and eosinstained sections were examined for grading of the carcinoma. The immunohistochemical expression of VEGF was evaluated by the use of Anti-VEGF-A Antibody using the Strept-Avidin-Biotin method on paraffin sections. Immunohistochemical results were evaluated using an image analyzer. Results were recorded and statistically analyzed and correlated with both clinical and histological grading of the tumors. RESULTS: The expression of VEGF was found to be significantly related to the grade of differentiation of the tumor, where the poorer the differentiation, the more the expression the antibody. On the contrary, no significant relation between VEGF expression and clinical data was found. CONCLUSIONS: The expression of VEGF is of a great value as a means of diagnosis concerning histological grading of the tumor, but cannot be used as a sole method for evaluating the case prognosis.