Non-Invasive Detection of Oral Cancers Using MLPA

Objectives: Despite the recent advances in cancer biology and locoregional therapy, the incidence and mortality rates of oral cancer have shown little improvement. The lack of specific clinical identifying features leads to the difficulty in differentiating oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) from benign proliferative condition which may explain the delay in diagnosing oral cancer. In this preliminary study, a non-invasive brush method was used to detect oral cancer specific genes using MLPA. Methods: Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) was used to detect genetic alterations of 107 genes in 10 OPMD lesions using a non-invasive brush method. Gingiva flaps from 10 healthy individuals were used as controls. The frozen tissue samples of 5 patients with dysplasia were also analysed. Results: Genetic alterations from the DNA obtained from the brush technique were successfully detected using MLPA. The most frequently altered gene in the OPMD brush samples was the KLK3 (60%).The OPMD brush samples showed 12.17% genetic alterations while the dysplasia samples showed 8.75% genetic alterations which is higher than the normal samples at 3%. Conclusion: The non-invasive brush technique has the potential to be used with MLPA to screen for oral cancers.