Role of Tumor Markers in Oral Cancer: An Overview
Reddy Lavanya *
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Panineeya Dental College, Hyderabad, India
B. Mamatha
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Panineeya Dental College, Hyderabad, India
Shefali Waghray
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Panineeya Dental College, Hyderabad, India.
Nallan C. S. K. Chaitanya
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Panineeya Dental College, Hyderabad, India
M. Padma Reddy
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Panineeya Dental College, Hyderabad, India
D. B. Gandhi Bau
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Panineeya Dental College, Hyderabad, India
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The oral mucosa represents the first part of the digestive tract and is exposed to various exogenous toxins. Exposure for longer duration can lead to changes that lead to potentially malignant diseases or cancers / Tumors. Eventually these can be diagnosed by routine histopathology, but few of them are difficult to diagnose by this method alone. There arises the role of tumor markers in distinguishing different pathologies is well established. A marker can be described as some inconspicuous object used to distinguish or mark certain things. Mostly tumor markers are proteins and these markers may be detected within exfoliated or distributed cells, or as circulating agents within the peripheral blood or plasma. In the recent years, there is a renewed interest about tumor markers, providing window of opportunity for management of cancer patients by enhancing the efficiency in detection and treatment plan. Recent technological advancement has enabled the examination of many potential markers. This paper focuses on the tumor markers in the head and neck neoplasm.
Keywords: Cancer, tumor markers (T.M), potentially malignant lesion