Incidence of human papillomavirus infection in oral leukoplakia. Indications for a viral aetiology.

Epidemiological and experimental studies have indicated a possible role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the etiopathogenesis of oral premalignant lesions and tumors. The aim of this study was to establish the incidence of HPV infection and the typing of genotypes in some patients with nonmalignant oral cavity pathology and healthy subjects. We selected 80 subjects affected by the following pathologies: oral leukoplakia (20), squamous cell papilloma (6), various forms of stomatitis (30), lichen planus (15), burning mouth syndrome (BMS, 9).

Anti-p53 and anti-heat shock proteins antibodies in patients with malignant or pre-malignant lesions of the oral cavity.

Background: Evaluation of circulating anti-p53 antibodies is an easy-to-perform, widely employed, procedure to assess the p53 status in cancer patients.

Materials And Methods: Levels of circulating anti-p53 antibodies in patients affected either by oral SCC or by pre- malignant oral lesions were assayed using a commercial ELISA kit. Autoantibody titers to Hsp60 and Hsp72 were determined by conventional ELISA.

Multiple primary tumours in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma.

A series of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) observed at the "Regina Elena" Cancer Institute was retrospectively reviewed in order to analyse the risk factors for multiple and second primary tumours (SPTs), their impact on survival and effective measures to control this phenomenon. In a survey of 200 individuals with a median follow-up of 3.2 years (25th percentile: 1.

Retinol dietary intake and oral leukoplakia development.

To investigate the clinical outcome of unbalanced diet in patients with oral precancerosis and to assess a possible relationship between dietary factors and the development of oral leukoplakia, a case-control study was carried out within a cohort of 53 subjects treated at our Centre in October-November 1997. Enrolled subjects and suitable controls underwent a careful interview on their own alimentary habits with a particular interest in retinol and carotenoids major sources. An individual qualitative and quantitative assessment of retinol-equivalents dietary intake, yielding average values for each group, allowed to compare the cohorts and to relate data also to tobacco use and to the severity of histopathological findings.

[Correlation between dietary vitamin A consumption and onset of precancerous lesions in the oral cavity].

The efficacy of vitamin A in the prevention of oral cavity cancer has been studied during the last years due to the interest for a possible application of new drugs in the treatment of second primary tumours and multiple neoplasms. Fifty patients with oral precancerous lesions treated at the "Centre for prevention of oral cavity cancer" of the "Regina Elena" Institute in Rome, have been subjected to a rigorous questionnaire about their use of vitamin A in the diet. Moreover a standard sample of fifty healthy people without oral cavity lesions.