Arsenic in HPV Related Oral Carcinoma- A New Threat of the Decade

Abstract

Oral/oropharyngeal carcinoma is one of the most common cancers worldwide, ranking 3 rd in developing countries. In India (West Bengal), it ranks first among all other cancers. Its association with different addictions has already been well established worldwide. Another alarming correlation between human papilloma virus (HPV) infection and oral carcinoma has become a new headache of the clinicians all over the world. In India, few studies are showing this relation of HPV in oral carcinoma. Moreover, a new emerging risk factor is metal toxicity. Various metals have been associated with the development of different cancers. Among these, arsenic is a proven carcinogen. Its toxicity is associated with various cancers worldwide, mainly skin, lung and bladder cancer. But, its relation with oral carcinoma is only being stated in a few studies. In India, only one study in West Bengal has shown this correlation so far, because West Bengal is the most arsenic affected area in this country. However, no study has been done correlating metal (arsenic) toxicity, HPV infection in the development of oral carcinoma worldwide; except one in India, stating the correlation among these two factors with oral carcinoma. So, we have tried to carry out the literature survey from all relevant articles in various newspapers and published research papers in Pubmed, Pubmed Central and Google, in order to bring out a review in this field. To our best knowledge, this is the first ever review work involving arsenic toxicity, human papilloma virus infection and oral carcinoma.