Objectives

  Oral mucositis caused by cancer chemotherapy can result in significant clinical complications. There is a strategic need to accelerate the delineation of the pathobiology. This proof-of-principle study was designed to demonstrate the feasibility of studying archived oral mucosal specimens to further delineate oral mucositis pathobiology.

  Materials and Methods

 Twenty-nine formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue blocks of 25-year-old oral mucosa autopsy specimens from cancer chemotherapy patients were studied. Standardized technology was utilized, including RNA isolation and amplification, array hybridization, and gene expression analysis.

 Results

  A predominance of DNA damage in buccal mucosal basal keratinocytes was observed. Data comparing basal cells from buccal vs. gingival mucosa identified differential gene expression of host responses in relation to pathways relevant to oral mucositis pathogenesis, including responses to cancer-associated inflammation.

 Conclusions

  This proof-of-principle study demonstrated that archived oral mucosal specimens may be a potentially valuable resource for the study of oral mucositis in cancer patients.

 Source: Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology

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