Genetic Diagnosis of Oral Cancer (From Diagnosis to Therapy)

Five-year survival rates of oral cancer are not improving in spite of the progression of multidisciplinary treatment, because distant metastasis is the major cause of death in individuals suffering cancer. Therefore, early detection of metastasis at cervical lymph nodes and choosing appropriate treatment for advanced cases are highlighted for reducing deaths due to oral cancer and keeping QOL after treatment. First, actual condition of the micrometastasis in the cervival lymph nodes was analyzed with semiserial sectioning and its detection rate was improved with genetic diagnosis. SCC antigen mRNA is found to be a suitable marker of oral cancer. Next, I applied the sentinel node navigation surgery using intraoperative real-time genetic diagnosis. In order to further improve diagnostic accuracy, an optimal gene marker set was identified by means of a whole genomewide microarray gene-expression profiling, which can detect common upregulated and downregulated genes in oral cancer. I believe that the genetic diagnosis is pivotal for choosing appropriate treatment, especially for individuals diagnosed with oral cancer.