Ram Hari, Sarkar Jayanta, Kumar Hemant, Konwar Rituraj, Bhatt M L B, Mohammad Shadab
J Maxillofac Oral Surg. 2011 Jun;10(2):132-7. doi: 10.1007/s12663-011-0195-z. Epub 2011 Apr 22.
Oral cancer is one of the most common cancers and it constitutes a major health problem particularly in developing countries. It is one of the leading causes of death. Tobacco and alcohol consumption appears to be the major determinants of oral cancer.
The literature search was carried out in NCBI Pubmed database using keywords "oral cancer", "risk factor", "epidemiology" and "patho*". Some basic information was also obtained from textbook and medical university websites.
Several risk factors have been well characterized to be associated with oral cancer with substantial evidences. The development of oral cancer is a multistep process involving the accumulation of genetic and epigenetic alterations in key regulatory genes. Experimental pathological studies of oral cancer in animal models and direct molecular genetic analysis of oral cancer subjects in recent times have revealed a substantial amount of knowledge on specific gene alterations or other genetic mechanisms involved in initiation and subsequent progression.
Considering known risk factors, oral cancer appears to be to a certain extent, a preventable disease. Recent development of molecular picture of pathoprogression and molecular genetic tools opens the avenue for easier diagnosis, better prognostication and efficient therapeutic management.
口腔癌是最常见的癌症之一，尤其在发展中国家，它构成了一个重大的健康问题。它是主要的死亡原因之一。烟草和酒精消费似乎是口腔癌的主要决定因素。
在NCBI Pubmed数据库中使用关键词“口腔癌”、“危险因素”、“流行病学”和“病理*”进行文献检索。还从教科书和医科大学网站获取了一些基本信息。
有大量证据充分表明，多种危险因素与口腔癌有关。口腔癌的发生是一个多步骤过程，涉及关键调控基因中遗传和表观遗传改变的积累。近年来，动物模型中口腔癌的实验病理学研究以及口腔癌患者的直接分子遗传学分析揭示了大量关于启动及后续进展中特定基因改变或其他遗传机制的知识。
考虑到已知的危险因素，口腔癌在一定程度上似乎是一种可预防的疾病。病理进展分子图谱和分子遗传学工具的最新发展为更轻松的诊断、更好的预后及有效的治疗管理开辟了道路。
