Asoke Roy^1,, Satyendra Prakash Bhatnagar², Malay Chatterjee³, Dipanwita Ghosh¹, Goutam Mandal⁴, Shyamsundar Mondal⁵, Shyamal Goswami⁶

In this prospective study, search for high risk cases of premalignant oral lesions were attempted through evaluation of oncoprotein expression, cell proliferation and micronuclei. Materials and methods: A total 50 cases of oral leukoplakia were diagnosed and adequate controls along with detailed history were included in this study. Study of tumour markers like p53, PCNA and Ki-67 were done immunohistochemically on tissue sections. Study of micronuclei was performed by feulgen staining method. Results: The mean age of the 50 cases were 44.48 ± 9.76 and median age was 50 years. There were 45 male cases (90%) and 5 female cases (10%). There were 26 non dysplastic (52%) and 24 dysplastic cases (48%). The smokers consist of 25 cases (50%) and other addictions (betel quid chewers, ghutka, khaini, alcohol etc.) had 24 cases (48%) and 1 case was non addict (2%). Out of 25 cases of smokers, 20 (80%) were positive in case of p53, 19 (76%) were positive in case of PCNA and 17 (68%) were positive in case of Ki67. Out of 24 cases of other addictions, 16 (66.67%) cases were positive in case of p53, 13 (54.17%) positive cases in case of PCNA and16 cases (66.67%) were positive in case of Ki67.The smokers had 0.51 ± 0.21 micronuclei frequency whereas other addiction groups had 0.24 ± 0.10. Conclusion: The histopathological risk assessment of these cases is inconclusive and thus p53, PCNA, Ki67 and micronuclei evaluation are needed for risk categorization.

oral leukoplakia, oral squamous cell carcinoma, immunohistochemistry, molecular-markers, p53, PCNA, Ki67, micronuclei, epithelial dysplasia