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INTRODUCTION: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has the highest mortality rates among all carcinomas and is the most common head and neck cancer. Several natural compounds and micronutrients have been under investigation for their efficacy in head and neck cancer chemoprevention. Green tea contains various cancer preventive catechins that have a role in preventing cancer recurrence in various organs in humans. Curcumin, a natural polyphenol, is one of the most investigated biomolecules from Mother Nature. Curcumin has been shown to exert significant growth inhibitory effect on oral precancerous and carcinoma cell lines, and the effect is synergistic with epigallocatechin gallate, the most abundant polyphenol in tea. OBJECTIVES: To assess the chemopreventive effects of green tea and curcumin through induction of hamster buccal pouch carcinoma by using an apoptotic marker and compare their effect each alone and in combination. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Squamous cell carcinoma was chemically induced in fifty Syrian golden hamsters divided into 5 groups (10 each). The first group was used as normal control group. The second group received the carcinogenic agent only. The other three groups received green tea, curcumin and combination of both, respectively. RESULTS: Normal control group (A) revealed neither pathological nor inflammatory changes in the buccal pouch with 1.72% of the cells underwent apoptosis while the cells of positive control group (B) resulted in 11.57% apoptosis. In the study groups, treatment of the cells with green tea (C), curcumin (D) and both of them (E) resulted in 82.22 %, 78.91%, 96.63% apoptosis respectively. The fluorescent image by confocal laser scanning in group B showed increase of the red fluorescence in the nucleus and cytoplasm of the squamous cell carcinoma cells indicating high proliferating cells while the fluorescent image of group C, D and E showed decrease of the red florescence in the nuclei of the squamous cell carcinoma cells indicating low proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: Green tea and curcumin have a significant chemopreventive effect against oral carcinogenesis and the combination of both agents has a better effect.

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INTRODUCTION:Oral cancer is a major health problem, causing high morbidity and mortality rates. Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) accounts for 90-95% of all oral malignancies. The prognosis of OSCC is often poor due to the late discovery of most lesions, after they have reached a large size. Here comes the role of biomarkers of genetic damage that can have excellent use in early diagnosis of cancer. Micronuclei are small extranuclear bodies formed by chromosome fragments or whole chromosomes that lag behind at anaphase and are not incorporated into the resulting daughter nuclei but are covered by a nuclear membrane and resemble a small nucleus. Many investigators have already called micronuclei (MN) an upcoming biomarker of tumorogenesis. More than 90% of human malignancies originate from epithelial cells. Thus the MN test in exfoliated buccal epithelial cells could be used as an objective, non-invasive tool for biomonitoring the genetic damage in high risk human populations and for screening cellular alteration in OSCC cases. OBJECTIVES: To assess the degree of genetic damage in the oral squamous cell carcinoma lesions using micronuclei as biomarkers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of thirty four participants; seventeen OSCC patients and17 healthy control subjects were included. Cytological smears were taken from the lesion of the OSCC cases as well as from the buccal mucosa of the control group subjects using a cytobrush. Cytological smears were stained using Papanicolaou stain and the number of micronucleated (MNed) cells per 1000 cells was determined for each subject. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference between the number of MNed cells in the cytological smears of OSCC cases and those of the healthy control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: The number of MNed cells increases significantly in cancer patients thus they can be considered as an important biomarker for genetic damage.

Background Oral cancer, one of the most common cancers, has unimproved 5-years survival rate in the last 30 years and the chemo/radiotherapy-associated morbidity. Therefore, intervention strategies that evade harmful side effects of the conventional treatment modalities are of need. Herbal therapy as a complementary preventive/therapeutic modality has gained attention. Curcumin is one of the herbal compounds possessing unique anticancer activity and luminescent optical properties. However, its low water solubility limits its efficacy. In contrast, curcumin at the nanoscale shows altered physical properties with enhancing bioavailability. Methods The current study evaluated the impact of nanocurcumin as an anti-oral cancer herbal remedy, comparing its efficacy against the native curcumin complement and conventional chemotherapeutic. An optimized polymeric-stabilized nanocurcumin was synthesized using the solvent-antisolvent precipitation technique. After assuring the solubility and biocompatibility of nanocurcumin, we determined its cytotoxic dose in treating the squamous cell carcinoma cell line. We then evaluated the anti-tumorigenic activity of the nano-herb in inhibiting wound closure and the cytological alterations of the treated cancer cells. Furthermore, the cellular uptake of the nanocurcumin was assessed depending on its autofluorescence. Results The hydrophilic optimized nanocurcumin has a potent cancerous cytotoxicity at a lower dose (60.8 µg/mL) than the native curcumin particles (212.4 µg/mL) that precipitated on high doses hindering their cellular uptake. Moreover, the nanocurcumin showed differential targeting of the cancer cells over the normal fibroblasts with a selectivity index of 4.5. With the confocal microscopy, the luminescent nanoparticles showed gradual nuclear and cytoplasmic uptake with apparent apoptotic cell death, over the fluorescent doxorubicin with its necrotic effect. Furthermore, the nanocurcumin superiorly inhibited the migration of cancer cells by -25%. Conclusions The bioavailable nanocurcumin has better apoptotic cytotoxicity. Moreover, its superior luminescence promotes the theranostic potentialities of the nano-herb combating oral cancer.