The survival of oral carcinoma, on average 50% at 5 years, is strongly influenced by the stage in which the disease comes
diagnosed.
Tissue biopsy is the gold standard for obtaining a certain diagnosis; the latter, however, may present some
problems that may actually limit its use, such as patient comorbidities or the risk of causing micro-metastases by oncological cell dissemination.
For this reason, a new diagnostic and follow-up method was introduced in the field of oncology: the liquid biopsy.
Liquid biopsy is a simple, rapid and minimally invasive method which consists of a blood and / or saliva collection in order to
to analyze some biomarkers that can affect oncogenic or tumor suppressor mechanisms.
The main purpose of the research is to analyze the expression profile of some microRNAs (miRNAs) in order to evaluate them
use as diagnostic and / or prognostic biomarkers in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity (SCOC).
In particular the following miRNAs will be analyzed: miRNA-29b, miRNA-31, miRNA-21, miRNA- 1246, miRNA-184, miRNA-
424, miRNA-135b, miRNA-766, miRNA-145 and miRNA-378.
Adult Caucasian patients, affected by OSCC or by potentially malignant epithelial lesions (PMEL) belonging to the DAI Head-Neck of Sapienza University of Rome, will be enrolled in the study. The tissue samples and liquids taken will be sent to the molecular epidemiology laboratory, Sapienza University of Rome, where they will be processed for the extraction of the aforementioned miRNAs. The advantages of liquid biopsy are to be considered not only in the early diagnosis and evaluation of various tumor genetic determinants, but also in the evaluation of the response to chemo or radiotherapy treatment, as well as in the monitoring of residual disease.
