Oral cancer typically develops from hyperplasia through dysplasia to carcinoma with a multistep process of carcinogenesis involving genetic alterations resulting in aberrant cellular appearance, deregulated cell growth, and carcinoma. The metabolic transformation during the process of oral carcinogenesis and its implications for cancer therapy have not been extensively investigated. Here, we report a metabonomic study on a classical model of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA)-induced oral carcinogenesis in hamsters to delineate characteristic metabolic transformation during the carcinogenesis using gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF MS). Salvianolic acid B (Sal-B), isolated from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge, and Breviscapine, a flavonoid isolated from Herba Erigerontis, were used to treat the hamsters exposed to DMBA to investigate the molecular mechanism of the inhibitory effect of the two agents on oral carcinogenesis. The dynamic changes of serum metabolic profiles indicated that both Sal-B and Breviscapine were able to attenuate DMBA-induced metabolic perturbation, which is consistent with the histopathological findings that Sal-B and Breviscapine significantly decreased the squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) incidence in the two treatment groups. Significant alterations of key metabolic pathways, including elevated glutaminolysis and glycolysis, and decreased cholesterol and myo-inositol metabolism, were observed in the DMBA-induced model group, which were attenuated or normalized by Sal-B or Breviscapine treatment. Elevated inflammation and tumor angiogenesis at gene and metabolite expression levels were also observed in DMBA-induced oral dysplasia and SCC but were attenuated or normalized by Sal-B and Breviscapine along with significantly decreased incidences of SCC formation.

Background: This study sought to identify the circular RNAs (circRNAs) differentially expressed in oral lichen planus (OLP) to investigate the possible role of circRNAs in this disease's pathogenesis.Methods: Six OLP and six normal oral mucosal tissues were used for circRNA detection and sequencing.10 selected circRNAs were verified by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). A gene ontology (GO) functional analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were performed to predict the functions of circRNAs in OLP. TargetScan and miRanda were applied to predict targeted micro (mi)RNAs and messenger (m)RNAs of circRNAs, and competing endogenous (ce)RNA networks were mapped.Results: One hundred and thirty-five circRNAs were identified differentially expressed in OLP tissues compared to normal control tissues, including 83 upregulated circRNAs, and 52 down-regulated circRNAs.RT-qPCR confirmed that 10 circRNAs were all abnormally expressed in OLP. The GO functional analysis and KEGG pathway analysis showed that differentially expressed circRNAs were involved in 535 GO functional items and 78 signal pathways. A ceRNA network analysis showed that circRNAs might interact with a variety of miRNAs.Conclusions: This study mapped the expression profile of abnormally expressed circRNAs in OLP tissues for the first time and showed that circRNAs appear to play an important role in the pathogenesis of OLP.

Background Oral mucosal diseases (OMDs) encompass a variety of different types of diseases. Our aim was to evaluate the prevalence and related risk factors of OMDs among residents in the Baoshan District of Shanghai, China, and provide a scientific basis for prevention and control strategies. Methods A sample of 653 residents aged 17 to 92 years from the Baoshan community was investigated in 2014. Each resident was surveyed by questionnaire to evaluate their oral mucosa and oral mucosa examinations were conducted. We followed up with 607 residents in 2018. All data were statistically analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 software package (Chicago, IL, USA) at the general population, gender and age levels. A X2 test was used to compare rates of risk factors and logistic regression analysis was used to detect the correlation between disease and risk factors. Results The prevalence rate of OMDs was found to be 9.19%–9.56% (2014–2018). The most common OMDs were atrophic glossitis (1.84%), recurrent aphthous ulcer (RAU, 1.68%), burning mouth syndrome (BMS, 1.38%), oral lichen planus (OLP, 1.23%) and traumatic ulcers (1.23%). The prevalence of RAU and BMS in different age groups was significantly different. Tobacco and alcohol use and psychological factors in the OMDs group were higher than the no-OMDs group. Systemic diseases including diabetes mellitus (DM) was significantly relevant to OLP. Conclusion Age, tobacco and alcohol use, and psychological factor correlated strongly with the occurrence and development of OMDs, and they should be the focus of primary prevention. General epidemiological studies suggested that OLP was closely related to DM.