Biochemical and Molecular Biological Studies on Oral Cancer: An Overview

摘要

Oral cancer is the cancerous tissue growth located in the oral cavity. It may arise as a primary lesion originatingin any of the oral tissues, by metastasis from a distant site of origin, or by extension from a neighboring anatomic structure,such as the nasal cavity or the maxillary sinus. Smoking and other tobacco use are associated with about 75 percentof oral cancer cases. Alcohol use is another high-risk activity associated with oral cancer. Infection with human papillomavirus(HPV), particularly type 16 (there are over 120 types), is a known risk factor and independent causative factor fororal cancer. Oncogenes, gain-of-function mutations of highly regulated normal cellular counterparts (proto-oncogenes),are likely involved in the initiation and progression of oral neoplasia. Cellular oncogenes were initially discovered by theability of tumor cell DNA to induce transformation in gene transfer assays. Mechanisms of activation of these cellularoncogenes include point mutations and DNA re-arrangements. Several of these cellular oncogenes are homologsof retroviral oncogenes (e.g., the ras genes); others are new oncogenes. Tumor suppressor genes or anti-oncogenes havebeen documented to confer potent negative regulatory controls which are lost due to chromosomal alterations duringtumor formation. Functional loss of multiple tumor suppressor genes is believed to be the major event leading to thedevelopment of malignancy. Treatment is done till date with the help of radiation therapy, considering the removal oftumor which proceeds with the surgery. Chemotherapy is also used but not to a wide extent and that too has to be donewith radiation and research work is still going on the drug discovery for this disease, hence looking towards this fact weopted for the work in this area looking into the successful way of the treatment for oral cancer. The present review iscompilation of the data pertaining to biochemistry and molecular biology of oral carcinoma and would certainly providenew insights to explore the development of nutraceuticals based on the hypothesis projected by future studies on computationalbiotechnology of oral carcinoma.