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Background:Oral cancer is a major public health problem in India. A key factor that has led to lack of improvement in prognosis of oral cancer over the years, is delay in diagnosis and treatment. In many instances, a significant proportion of oral squamous cell carcinomas develop from premalignant lesions and conditions. Identification of such lesions and conditions is very important in order to prevent malignant transformation. The role of fungal infections has been studied and holds promise as an indicator to predict malignant transformation. So we designed a study to analyze the prevalence of fungal hyphae in biopsies of patients with clinically diagnosed cases of premalignant lesions and conditions.Aims and Objectives:To determine and compare the prevalence of fungal hyphae in biopsies of patients with clinically diagnosed cases of potentially malignant lesions and conditions and to assess the possible association between the degree of epithelial dysplasia and presence or absence of fungal hyphae.Materials and Methods:Clinically suspected and histopathologically diagnosed 70 cases of potentially malignant lesions and conditions (29 leukoplakia, 16 submucous fibrosis and 25 lichen planus) made up the study group. Three tissue sections (5μm) of each were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H and E), periodic acid–Schiff's reagent (PAS) and Grocott's methenamine silver (GMS) and evaluated for fungal hyphae. The data collected was statistically analyzed by using Chi-square test and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software.Results:The estimated prevalence of fungal hyphae in cases with or without dysplasia in leukoplakia was 41.4%, lichen planus 36% and submucous fibrosis 25%. There was a significant association between degree of epithelial dysplasia with presence or absence of fungal hyphae in all the study groups.Conclusion:Presence of fungal hyphae in potentially malignant lesions and conditions may prove to be a useful indicator in predicting malignant transformation.

Background:Angiogenesis is the formation of new vessels from preexisting ones which takes place by capillary sprouting. It is seen in healing, at sites of injury and collateral circulation in ischemia. It is also seen in tumors, as once the original blood supply of a tumor is exhausted it cannot grow without further blood supply. Also as the angiogenic capacity of a tumor increases, its microvasculature, that is, microvessel density (MVD) also increases. Based on this literary evidence we carried out an immunohistochemical (IHC) study to observe the relationship between the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) [angiogenesis] and CD 34 [MVD] in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).Aim:To evaluate the correlation between expression of VEGF and CD 34, the role of MVD in progression of OSCC and to compare the degree of angiogenesis in different grades of OSCC.Settings and Design:In this study we observed the relation between angiogenesis and MVD and the overall effect of this on oral cancer.Materials and Methods:Thirty-three cases of OSCC were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, (H and E) to confirm the diagnosis and immunohistochemically using VEGF and CD 34 antibody. The slides were evaluated for positivity and intensity of staining.Statistical Analysis:The result was subjected to statistical analysis using analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and Fisher's exact test.Results:VEGF positivity as well as MVD was found to be independent of the grade of the tumor. Tumor MVD was found to be independent of expression of VEGF.

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Cancer is one of the most life threatening diseases afflicting mankind. Oral carcinogenesis is a multifactorial process involving numerous genetic events that alter normal functions of oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes. These changes lead to a cell phenotype with increased cell proliferation, with loss of cell cohesion, and infiltration of adjacent tissue thus causing distant metastasis. The fact that cancer patients might develop metastasis after years or even decades from diagnosis of the primary tumor makes the metastatic process even more complex and the disease more deadly. The promise of this article is to enhance the understanding on molecular mechanisms underlying metastasis and provide a better approach towards development of novel therapeutic treatment modalities.