Progress in Drug and Formulation Development for the Chemoprevention of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Review

Abstract

Background: Cancer is a life-threatening global problem with high incidence rates. Prioritizing the prevention of cancer, chemopreventive agents have drawn much attention from the researchers. Background: This review focuses on the discussion of the progress in the development of chemopreventive agents and formulations related to the prevention of oral cancer. Methods: In this perspective, an extensive literature survey was carried out to understand the mechanism, control and chemoprevention of oral cancer. Different patented agents and formulations have also exhibited cancer preventive efficacy in experimental studies. This review summarizes the etiology of oral cancer and developments in prevention strategies. Results: The growth of oral cancer is a multistep activity necessitating the accumulation of genetic as well as epigenetic alterations in key regulatory genes. Many risk factors are associated with oral cancer. Genomic technique for sequencing all tumor specimens has been made available to help detect mutations. The recent development of molecular pathway and genetic tools has made the process of diagnosis easier, better forecast and efficient therapeutic management. Different chemical agents have been studied for their efficacy to prevent oral cancer and some of them have shown promising results. Conclusion: Use of chemopreventive agents, either synthetic or natural origin, to prevent carcinogenesis is a worthy concept in the management of cancers. Preventive measures are helpful in controlling the occurrence or severity of the disease. The demonstrated results of preventive agents have opened an arena for the development of promising chemopreventive agents in the management of oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Phyllanthus emblicafruits: a polyphenol-rich fruit with potential benefits for oral management

“…The OSCC process tends to be slow, 100 and thus exploring new strategies for the prevention and early treatment of oral cancer is essential to improve patient survival. 101,102 Numerous studies conducted over the last two decades have documented the cancer prevention and anticancer properties of PEF. 103 The abundant cancer prevention and anti-tumor active molecules in PEF cooperate through anti-mutation, targeting the apoptotic pathway of cancer cells, inhibiting the cell cycle and other mechanisms to exhibit a higher level of anticancer activity than a single component.…”

pomoea batatas(L.) Lam. (Convolvulaceae) as a source of polyphenols with antitumor activity and prospects for in vitro production using chemical elicitors -A Review

“…Natural medicines have an effect on multiple therapeutic targets, which allows them to effectively compensate for the biological complexity of cancer (Ma et al, 2021). Polyphenols act on several targets involved in cancer appearance and progression, through mechanisms that involve cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and angiogenesis inhibition (Abbaszadeh et al, 2019;Sarma et al, 2019), which would possibly allow them to counteract drug resistance present in cancer cells.…”

Exploring the potential of dietary factors and plant extracts as chemopreventive agents in oral squamous cell carcinoma treatment

“…More than 95% of cases of oral cancer are identified as carcinomas, often known as oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) ( 8 ). Squamous cell carcinoma originates from epithelial tissue dysplasia with morphological changes like basal cell hyperplasia, nuclear hyperchromatism, and increased nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio in cancer patients ( 9 ). Of all neck and head cancer, 38% is caused by OSCC ( 10 ).…”