Chemoprevention of oral cancer

Abstract

Oral cancer is one among the ten most common cancers in the world and shows a marked geographic variation in occurrence. It causes considerable morbidity and is associated with a 5-year survival rate of less than 50%. Current treatment primarily consists of surgery and radiotherapy and improvement in long-term cure rates with these modalities has reached a plateau. As, curative therapy available for oral cancer often results in debilitating changes in appearance, speech, swallowing and breathing, preventive strategies are desirable. Cancer chemoprevention is the use of natural, synthetic or biologic chemical agents to reverse, suppress, or prevent carcinogenic progression. Chemoprevention has been an extensively-studied strategy and continues to hold promise in the management of oral cancer. Many agents have been evaluated as possible chemopreventive agents including vitamin A and retinoids, betacarotene, vitamin E and dietary agents. Recently, molecularly targeted approach has generated interest among researchers worldwide which includes cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors, EGFR inhibitors and adenovirus vectors. This article reviews the various aspects of chemoprevention and describes important chemopreventive agents and design of chemopreventive trials.

Keywords

• Oral cancer
• Chemoprevention
• Antioxidants