Progress risk assessment of oral premalignant lesions with saliva miRNA analysis

Oral cancer develops through multi-stages: from normal to mild (low grade) dysplasia (LGD), moderate dysplasia, and severe (high grade) dysplasia (HGD), to carcinoma in situ (CIS) and finally invasive oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC). Clinical and histological assessments are not reliable in predicting which precursor lesions will progress. The

These results show promise for using saliva miRNA signature for monitoring of cancer precursor lesions and early detection of disease progression.

We first used microRNA microarray to profile progressing LGD oral premaligant lesions (OPLs) from non-progressing LGD OPLs in order to explore the possible microRNAs deregulated in low grade OPLs which later progressed to HGD or OSCC. We then used RT-qPCR to detect miRNA targets from the microarray

We identified a specific miRNA signature that is aberrantly expressed in progressing oral LGD leukoplakias. Similar expression patterns were detected in saliva samples from these patients. Conclusions: These results show promise for using saliva miRNA signature for monitoring of cancer precursor lesions and early detection of disease progression.