These findings reinforce the use of the hamster cheek pouch as an experimental model for the study of oral cancer development, at least in reference to the possible participation of TGF-alpha in the malignant transformation process.
Thus, our data showing loss of H-ras-1 alleles and VTR rearrangement, with relatively high incidence (9/23; 39%) in the oral cancer patients at various stages of the disease, implies H-ras-1 involvement as an early event in the process of oral carcinogenesis.
We have investigated the association of RFLP at the H-ras-1 locus and susceptibility to oral cancer by Southern hybridization analysis in 77 primary oral tumors and 99 healthy donors.
These data indicate that "high risk" HPV infections and mutations of p53, Rb, and DCC genes are frequently found in oral cancer cells and may be associated with oral cancer.
The unexpected finding of p53 protein in clinically healthy mucosa was confined to subjects aged over 40 years who smoked tobacco, a known risk factor for oral cancer.
To investigate the mechanism of decrease of serum DPP IV activity in oral cancer patients, we analyzed the expression of DPP IV in peripheral blood T lymphocytes of oral cancer patients and healthy subjects.
This case-control study focused on the interactions between oral cancer risk factors and genetic polymorphisms of cytochrome P-450 (CYP) 2E1 and glutathione S-transferase (GST) M1 and GSTT1.
These results also suggest that individuals with the CYP1A1 exon 7 ile:val polymorphism are at increased risk for oral cancer, and that this risk may not be influenced by differences in exposure to tobacco smoke.