A BC research team has identified a set of molecular markers that can help determine whether individuals with oral precancerous lesions are at high risk of having those lesions progress to oral cancer. 

The findings were published in Cancer Prevention Research and represent the only large-scale population study with long-term follow-up. 
The study, led by Dr Miriam Rosin, director of the BC Cancer Agency’s BC Oral Cancer Prevention Program, validated the “loss of heterozygosity” analysis the team first discovered 10 years ago. This analysis successfully identified a change in the DNA of genes in specific chromosomes that have been shown to be highly predictive of the development of oral cancer.

Study findings show that patients with oral lesions can be grouped ac­cording to risk level, that two out of every three high-risk patients progres­sed to cancer, and that follow-up and treatment could be tailored to a pa­tient’s risk level.

The study can be viewed online at http://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/ [8].