Oral Cancer Biomarkers - as Powerful Diagnostic and Prognostic Tools

Oral carcinogenesis is considered to be a highly complex, molecular and histologically multistage process, which is often localized in the oral cavity, may metastasize and spread out resulting in the onset of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck (SCCHN). Among all the oral cancers, the frequency with which OSCC (Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma) (arising from the lining mucosa) occurs is the highest [1-3], making OSCC the sixth most widespread malignancy [4]. In spite of this, incidence of Oral Cancer is more predominant in the Southeast Asian countries [5] owing to excessive smokeless tobacco products consumption [6] as a consequence of nitrosamines mediated DNA adduct formation followed by uncontrolled proliferation [7].One of the most important risk factor for the oral cancer to develop in western countries is the consumption of tobacco and alcohol independently or together [8, 9] (synergistic effect) or infection with human papilloma virus, ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 5 Number 1(2016) pp. 209-220 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com