Cigarette smoking promotes cancer-related transformation of oral epithelial cells through activation of Wnt and MAPK pathway.

Aim: Study aims to investigate the effect of cigarette smoking on cancer-related transformation in oral epithelial cells of smokers through evaluating the alteration in Wnt/ß-catenin and MAPK pathways. Materials & methods: Exfoliated oral epithelial cells were collected from 138 subjects and categorized into nonsmokers, smokers and clinically diagnosed precancer and cancer patients. Real-time quantitative PCR was performed to detect the fold changes of related genes. Expressions of biomarkers were assessed using immunofluorescence and western blot. Results: Study shows significant (p < 0.001) alteration in mRNA level of TNF-α, NF-κß, FZD1, ß-catenin, PARD 3, MAPK1 and vimentin genes under cigarette smoking. Conclusion: Results suggested the progression of oral cancer under cigarette smoking occurs through multiple events and activation of canonical Wnt/MAPK pathways.

Association between risk of oral precancer and genetic variations in microRNA and related processing genes.

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs have been implicated in cancer but studies on their role in precancer, such as leukoplakia, are limited. Sequence variations at eight miRNA and four miRNA processing genes were studied in 452 healthy controls and 299 leukoplakia patients to estimate risk of disease. RESULTS: Genotyping by TaqMan assay followed by statistical analyses showed that variant genotypes at Gemin3 and mir-34b reduced risk of disease [OR = 0.5(0.3-0.9) and OR = 0.7(0.5-0.9) respectively] in overall patients as well as in smokers [OR = 0.58(0.3-1) and OR = 0.68(0.5-0.9) respectively]. Among chewers, only mir29a significantly increased risk of disease [OR = 1.8(1-3)]. Gene-environment interactions using MDR-pt program revealed that mir29a, mir34b, mir423 and Xpo5 modulated risk of disease (p < 0.002) which may be related to change in expression of these genes as observed by Real-Time PCR assays. But association between polymorphisms and gene expressions was not found in our sample set as well as in larger datasets from open access platforms like Genevar and 1000 Genome database. CONCLUSION: Variations in microRNAs and their processing genes modulated risk of precancer but further in-depth study is needed to understand mechanism of disease process.

Genetic variations at microRNA and processing genes and risk of oral cancer.

Genetic variations at microRNA and microRNA processing genes are known to confer risk of cancer in different populations. Here, we studied variations at eight microRNA (miRNA) and four miRNA processing genes in 452 controls and 451 oral cancer patients by TaqMan genotyping assays. Variant allele-containing genotypes at mir-196a2 and variant allele homozygous genotype at Ran increased the risk of cancer significantly [adjusted odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI)) = 1.3 (1-1.7) and 2.3 (1.1-4.6), respectively]. Conversely, variant allele-containing genotypes at mir-34b and variant allele homozygous genotype at Gemin3 reduced the risk of cancer significantly [adjusted OR (95% CI) = 0.7 (0.5-0.9) and 0.6 (0.4-1), respectively]. Cumulative risk was also increased by three times with increase in the number of risk alleles at these four loci. In tobacco stratified analysis, variant allele homozygous genotypes at mir-29a and Ran increased [adjusted OR (95% CI) = 1.5 (1-2.3) and 3 (1.1-8.4) respectively], while variant allele-containing genotypes at mir-34b decreased [adjusted OR (95% CI) = 0.6 (0.4-0.9)] the risk of cancer significantly. Thus, genetic variation at miRNA and processing genes altered the risk of oral cancer in this population thereby corroborating studies in other populations. However, it is necessary to validate this result in different Indian sub populations with larger sample sizes and examine the effect of these variations in tumour tissues to explain the mechanism of risk alteration.

Texture based segmentation of epithelial layer from oral histological images.

The objective of this paper is to provide a texture based segmentation algorithm for better delineation of the epithelial layer from histological images in discriminating normal and oral sub-mucous fibrosis (OSF). As per literature and oral clinicians, it is established that the OSF initially originates and propagates in the epithelial layer. So, more accurate segmentation of this layer is extremely important for a clinician to make a diagnostic decision. In doing this, Gabor based texture gradient is computed in gray scale images, followed by preprocessing of the microscopic images of oral histological sections. On the other hand, the color gradients of these images are obtained in the transformed Lab color space. Finally, the watershed segmentation is extended to segment the layer based on the combination of texture and color gradients. The segmented images are compared with the ground truth images provided by the oral experts. The segmentation results depict the superiority of the texture based segmentation in comparison to the Otsu's based segmentation in terms of misclassification error. Results are shown and discussed.

Clinicopathologic correlation of chondrosarcoma of mandible with a case report.

Chondrosarcoma is a rare primary malignant neoplasm of the head, neck, oral and maxillofacial regions. The clinicopathological and radiographic findings are usually characteristic; however, not decisive. The neoplasm is usually treated by wide surgical resection because it is traditionally radioresistant. However, radiotherapy is generally advised for high-grade lesions, and chemotherapy has a palliative role. The treatment and management are primarily guided by the histological grades of the neoplasm. Prognosis of jaw lesions is poor as compared to the lesions affecting the long bones of the body, and the cause of death is usually by direct extension in the base of the skull or due to distant metastasis to lungs and other bones. A clinical case of chondrosarcoma, involving the right half of mandible of a 36 year old male patient is discussed herewith, encompassing the entire gamut of clinicopathological, radiological and treatment modalities rendered.

Detection of constituent layers of histological oral sub-mucous fibrosis: images using the hybrid segmentation algorithm.

This paper concentrates on the segmentation of histological images of oral sub-mucous fibrosis (OSF) into its constituent layers. In this regard hybrid segmentation algorithm shows very interesting results. The segmentation results depict the superiority of hybrid segmentation algorithm (HSA) in comparison to region growing algorithm (RGA). In clinical sense, the presented method provides an automatic means for segmenting histological layers (reference class map provided by the expert). The method shows potential in mimicking clinical acumen to act as a support system to oncologist.