Cytogenetic monitoring in human oral cancers and other oral pathology: The micronucleus test in exfoliated buccal cells

Abstract

Oral cancer is a lifestyle-related cancer, with tobacco as a primary factor. Progression of oral cancer develops over several years from the stage of leukoplakia, erythroplakia, etc. A micronucleus test was applied to oral mucosal cells, considering them as the target site for carcinogens and cytogenetic damage. The test has been established as a reliable biomarker for differential prevalence of MN indices among oral cancers, pre-cancers, non-malignant oral pathologies, and healthy controls for the first time. Buccal scrapings were collected from 63 patients with cancer and pre-cancerous lesions, 42 with non-malignant oral problems, and 100 healthy controls. The analysis revealed that MN frequencies in cancer and pre-cancerous cases were 4-fold elevated (p < 0.001) and 3.87-fold (p < 0.002) elevated for other non-malignant pathologies. Significant associations between use of tobacco in various forms and development of oral pathologies are also established. The relative cancer risk for smoking healthy controls with a definite MN frequency was also found to be significant. The results indicate the validity of the MN test as a cytogenetic marker for the development of several oral pathologies.

Chromosomal Damage and Apoptosis in Exfoliated Buccal Cells from Individuals with Oral Cancer

“…In the oral epithelium, micronuclei are considered to be important biomarkers for the risk of cancer development [16, 18–21]. …”

Clinical application of micronucleus test in exfoliated buccal cells: A systematic review and metanalysis

“…A further study not included in the summary tables is related to a preliminary investigation in small groups of females with anoressia nervosa (10 subjects) and with bulimia nervosa (7 subjects) showing an increase of micronucleated cells and nuclear anomalies compared with age-matched healthy subjects (80) In two studies no significant induction of MN was found (17,59). In a first analysis the study of Katarkar, 2014 (63) Finally a potential publication bias due to language is likely as our review is limited to English language articles, and some reports in this field may have been omitted.…”

“…A growing interest in this assay in the last years was also associated with the follow up of oral cancer and premalignant lesions. MN frequency in buccal cells was shown to be a prognostic marker for mouth diseases and cancer in a number of studies (17)(18)(19) and seems to be a good candidate for oral cancer biomonitoring. The oral epithelium is the target for the development of lesions characterized by different clinical outcome and grade of malignancy due to the frequent exposure to mechanical, chemical and thermal insults (20)(21)(22).…”

Mutagenicity and cytotoxicity in patients submitted to ionizing radiation

“…MN evaluations are made in buccal epithelial exfoliated cells (BEC) as well, and this test is considered to be the least invasive method available with which to measure DNA damage in humans. 5 As a result of its ability to assess the activity of many chemical or physical carcinogenic and mutagenic agents in situ, the MN test in the BEC is the choice of many recent human biomonitoring studies, including those involving the following: alcohol, 6 tobacco, 7 oral cancer and other oral pathologies, 8 and patients undergoing radiotherapy 2 or chemotherapy. 9 With regard to ionizing radiation in dentistry, the MN test in the BEC was utilized to evaluate the panoramic dental radiograph, 3,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] the lateral digital radiograph, 17 mandibular cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), 18 and orthodontic radiographs.…”