Evaluation of Micronuclei in Buccal Mucosa – Comparing Smokers And Non Smokers

According to WHO over 1 billion people are associated with tobacco smoking and it accounts for approximately 4 – 5 million deaths a year worldwide which is estimated to increase to 10 million by 2030. Tobacco is a known causative agent in numerous cancers one of the major being oral cancer. Buccal mucosal cells are easily accessible and their response to the carcinogenic substances in cigarette can be studied easily for risk assessment with the help of a biomarker. Biomarker is a measurable DNA and RNA characteristic that can help study biologic and pathologic damage. Micronucleus count is a potentially useful candidate for such a biomarker. Micronuclei are fragments or whole chromosomes which did not reach spindle poles during mitosis and remain encapsulated at telophase in a separate nucleus. This study showed the usefulness of micronuclei for risk assessment due to genotoxic damage in smokers in comparison to non smokers. Not only was a significant increase in micronuclei found in smokers but also an increase in micronuclei with respect to age , duration of exposure and frequency of exposure was observed. Our study concludes that post standardization micronuclei may be used as screening tool for oral cancers.