A Study of Biomarkers in Head and Neck Cancer

Abstract

As seen previously in literature, oral cancer is common among males in our newlinecountry compared to females. This however does not appear to occur as part of newlinegenetic predisposition but reflect higher usage of tobacco and alcohol among newlinemales in our community. Despite ban on the usage of gutka, and high newlineawareness and advertisement drive against the use of tobacco products, the newlineuse has not actually been able to come down. Newer initiative is needed in our newlinecommunity to help preventing tobacco related diseases. newlineOral cancer is primarily a disease in older age group, commonly seen in males newlineabove the age of 45 years, suggesting a continues assault on the mucus newlinemembranes of the oral cavity and reduced capacity of their regeneration. newlineEGFR and pEGFR expression is high in patients with oral cancer compared to newlinepremalignant and malignant diseases. The expression increases with stage of newlinethe disease and higher expression is seen in aggressive tumors that have newlinespread to nodal basins. This suggested that EGFR expression is a prognostic newlinebiomarker and should be estimated in all the cases. EGFR also remains an newlineattractive therapeutic target, however, this should be targeted only if the newlinedownstream ras gene is not mutated, as the EGFR mechanism follows the ras newlinepathway mainly. There are other pathways too, however they have not been newlineinvestigated. newlineOur study also identified novel biomarkers in cancer and also the biomarker newlineproteins that are present in the higher stage disease. Characterization of these newlineproteins and our future work will help us come out with validation of these newlinemarkers and their potential use in future. newline