Salivary biomarkers: Effective diagnostic tool for oral leukoplakia and oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Objective: To identify potential salivary biomarkers for the diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression in oral squamous cell carcinoma and oral leukoplakia.

Materials And Methods: An advance search from PubMed and Hindawi was performed with keywords; oral leukoplakia/oral squamous cell carcinoma, salivary biomarker and diagnosis/prognosis. An additional search of articles was done through a manual search from the Google Scholar database.

Calibration improves the agreement in grading oral epithelial dysplasia-Findings from a National Workshop in Malaysia.

Introduction: A major pitfall of many of the established oral epithelial dysplasia (OED) grading criteria is their lack of reproducibility and accuracy to predict malignant transformation. The main objective of this study was to determine whether calibration of practicing oral pathologists on OED grading could improve the reproducibility of the WHO 2017 and the binary OED grading systems.

Methods: A nationwide online exercise was carried out to determine the influence of calibration on the reproducibility of the WHO 2017 and the binary OED grading systems.

Overexpression of gamma glutamyl hydrolase predicts extranodal extension in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity.

Objective: Extranodal extension (ENE) is an important prognostic factor in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). However, ENE is only confirmed postoperatively by histologic assessment of the lymph nodes after neck dissection. Accurate identification of ENE preoperatively would help in management of OSCC.

Transcriptional analysis highlights three distinct immune profiles of high-risk oral epithelial dysplasia.

Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) are precursors of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), and the presence of oral epithelial dysplasia (OED) in OPMD confers an increased risk of malignant transformation. Emerging evidence has indicated a role for the immune system in OPMD disease progression; however, the underlying immune mechanisms remain elusive. In this study, we used immune signatures established from cancer to delineate the immune profiles of moderate and severe OED, which are considered high-risk OPMD.

Image collection and annotation platforms to establish a multi-source database of oral lesions.

Objective: To describe the development of a platform for image collection and annotation that resulted in a multi-sourced international image dataset of oral lesions to facilitate the development of automated lesion classification algorithms.

Materials And Methods: We developed a web-interface, hosted on a web server to collect oral lesions images from international partners. Further, we developed a customised annotation tool, also a web-interface for systematic annotation of images to build a rich clinically labelled dataset.

First isolation and identification of Cystobasidium calyptogenae from the oral samples of an elderly patient presenting with angular cheilitis.

Background: Angular cheilitis, an infection mainly caused by Candida yeasts, is featured by the appearance of inflammatory lesions at the bilateral corners of the mouth, particularly in patients with poor oral hygiene, ill-fitting dentures and old age. The first isolation of an atypical yeast, Cystobasidium calyptogenae, from oral samples of a patient presenting with angular cheilitis is discussed in this study.

Case Presentation: Angular cheilitis was diagnosed in a 60-year-old denture-wearing woman who presented with an irritation fibroma on her right lower buccal sulcus over the premolar region.

Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Warthin Tumour Occurring As Synchronous Tumours: A Report of Two Cases.

Oral cancer is a common site of cancer worldwide with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) comprising the major segment. The risk factors include tobacco and alcohol abuse, betel quid, and areca nut consumption. Warthin tumour (WT), also known as papillary cystadenoma lymphomatosum is a benign tumour of the salivary gland.

A validated predictive model for risk of nodal metastasis in node negative oral squamous cell carcinoma of the buccal mucosa and tongue.

Background: Lymph node metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is influenced by clinical and histopathological variables. The aim of this study was to develop a simple model to predict nodal metastasis of OSCC in clinically negative necks (cN0).

Methods: Data from patients who underwent surgery for treatment of OSCC of the tongue or buccal mucosa with neck dissection were used for model development and validation.

Barriers to early detection and management of oral cancer in the Asia Pacific region.

Objective: Oral cancer is amenable to early detection but remains a prominent cause of mortality in the Asia Pacific region. This study aimed to identify barriers to early detection and management of oral cancer in the Asia Pacific region.

Methods: A mixed-methods approach was employed triangulating findings from a survey and focus groups.

Expression of Ki-67, Cornulin and ISG15 in non-involved mucosal surgical margins as predictive markers for relapse in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).

Background: Local relapse of oral squamous cell carcinoma in non-involved mucosal surgical margins indicated possibility of field alteration in the margins, which could be predicted with certain biomarkers. The objectives were to evaluate the expression of Ki-67, Cornulin and ISG15 in non-involved mucosal surgical margins and the association of clinicopathological prognosticators with local relapse in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Methods: Surgical margins from the study (relapse) group (n = 23), control (non-relapse) group (n = 32) and normal oral mucosa (n = 5) were immunohistochemically stained using Ki-67, Cornulin and ISG15 antibodies.

DNA Vaccines Targeting Novel Cancer-Associated Antigens Frequently Expressed in Head and Neck Cancer Enhance the Efficacy of Checkpoint Inhibitor.

HPV-independent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common cancer globally. The overall response rate to anti-PD1 checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs) in HNSCC is ~16%. One major factor influencing the effectiveness of CPI is the level of tumor infiltrating T cells (TILs).

High referral accuracy for oral cancers and oral potentially malignant disorders using telemedicine.

Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of MeMoSA®, a mobile phone application to review images of oral lesions in identifying oral cancers and oral potentially malignant disorders requiring referral.

Subjects And Methods: A prospective study of 355 participants, including 280 with oral lesions/variants was conducted. Adults aged ≥18 treated at tertiary referral centres were included.

Analysis of octamer-binding transcription factor-4 expression in oral leukoplakia.

Background: Oral potentially malignant disorders have a risk for malignant transformation but are difficult to reliably identify and predict which patients are at the risk for malignant transformation. OCT4 has been hypothesized to play a key oncogenic driver in a variety of solid tumors. A deeper understanding of the aberrant molecular pathways which lead to carcinogenesis needs to be identified by the potential markers.

Effectiveness of "OralDETECT": a Repetitive Test-enhanced, Corrective Feedback Method Competency Assessment Tool for Early Detection of Oral Cancer.

Early diagnosis of oral cancer results in less aggressive treatment and improves the quality of life and overall 5-year survival rate. Well-trained dental professionals can play a crucial role in the early detection of oral cancers. The present study aims to determine the effectiveness of the training program "OralDETECT", a spaced repetitive, test-enhanced learning tool with a corrective feedback mechanism for early detection of oral cancer.

Survival of Oral Cancer Patients in Different Ethnicities.

Previous studies found that ethnicity influences oral cancer patients' survival; however, most studies were limited to certain ethnic groups particularly from the West, thus of limited relevance to Asians where the disease is most prevalent. We investigated the relationship between ethnicity and patient survival in multi-racial Malaysia. 5-year survival rate was 40.

Exophytic Verrucous Hyperplasia of the Oral Cavity – Application of Standardized Criteria for Diagnosis from a Consensus Report.

Verruco-papillary lesions (VPLs) of the oral cavity described in the literature involve a spectrum of conditions including squamous papilloma, verruca vulgaris, focal epithelial hyperplasia, condyloma, proliferative verrucous leukoplakia and verrucous carcinoma. A majority of the VPLs are slow growing, benign in nature and have a viral aetiology. Virus associated benign mucosal outgrowths are not too difficult to diagnose either clinically or by microscopy.

Prevalence of oral cancer, oral potentially malignant disorders and other oral mucosal lesions in Cambodia.

Objectives: To obtain data on the prevalence of oral mucosal lesions (OMLs) among Cambodians, and to assess the relationship between known risk habits of oral diseases with prevalence of oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs).

Design: This was a population-based, cross-sectional study whereby subjects were adults aged 18 years old and above. A workshop on the identification of OML was held to train and calibrate dental officers prior to data collection in the field.

Mobile Phone Imaging in Low Resource Settings for Early Detection of Oral Cancer and Concordance with Clinical Oral Examination.

Introduction: This study examined the concordance in clinical diagnosis of high-risk lesions in the oral cavity and referral decisions between clinical oral examination (COE) and teledentistry.

Materials And Methods: Sixteen individuals with a range of oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) and normal oral mucosa were included. Five areas of the oral cavity were photographed by three dentists using mobile phone cameras with 5 MP-13 MP resolutions.

Prognostic significance of VEGF-C in predicting micrometastasis and isolated tumour cells in N0 oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: Lymph node metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a well-known independent prognostic factor. However, the identification of occult tumour cells within the lymph nodes has remained a challenge for the pathologist as well as the clinician.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of micrometastasis and isolated tumour cells (ITCs) in pathologically staged N0 OSCC of the tongue and buccal mucosa and to assess its correlation with vascular endothelial growth factor C, (VEGF-C) expression in the primary tumour.

Genetically-defined novel oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines for the development of molecular therapies.

Emerging biological and translational insights from large sequencing efforts underscore the need for genetically-relevant cell lines to study the relationships between genomic alterations of tumors, and therapeutic dependencies. Here, we report a detailed characterization of a novel panel of clinically annotated oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cell lines, derived from patients with diverse ethnicity and risk habits. Molecular analysis by RNAseq and copy number alterations (CNA) identified that the cell lines harbour CNA that have been previously reported in OSCC, for example focal amplications in 3q, 7p, 8q, 11q, 20q and deletions in 3p, 5q, 8p, 18q.

Audit of Turnaround Time for a Training Oral Histopathology Laboratory in Malaysia.

Background: Turnaround time (TAT) is the benchmark to assess the performance of a laboratory, pathologists, and pathology services, but there are few articles on TAT of surgical pathology, particularly in relation to oral or head and neck specimens. This study investigates the TAT for oral histopathology reporting in an academic institution's training laboratory and offers recommendations to achieve better overall quality of diagnostic services.

Methods: This study examined data obtained from biopsy request forms for specimens received from the Oro-Maxillofacial Surgery Department of Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang in the Oral Pathology Diagnostic Laboratory of the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, over a period of 3 years between January 2012 and October 2014.