Effects of salivary e-cadherin (cdh1-160) gene promoter polymorphism on the risk of development of oral cancer in indian origin

Background and Objectives: Annually more than 1 million new cases of oral cancer are detected in the Indian subcontinent of which 92-95% are Oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC).A wide spectrum of chromosomal, genetic and molecular alterations is associated with both pathogenesis and malignant transformation of OSMF and oral leukoplakia, yet majority remains unclear.A correlation of E-cadherin-160C/A with cancer susceptibility was described in a premalignant diseases.In this context this study aims at investigating the association between polymorphism in the CDH1-160 promoter region in patients with Oral leukoplakia and Oral sub-mucous fibrosis (OSMF) and in healthy control group of patients. Materials and Methods: The study comprised of 90 samples, of which 30 belonged to OSMF, 30 Leukoplakia and 30 controls with tobacco related habits but without any trace of oral potentially malignant disorders. A detailed history of the subjects was recorded following which clinical examination and histopathological confirmation was done. Genomic DNA isolation was done from saliva samples and PCR amplification were done to assess polymorphism of E-cadherin gene. Results: 14 and 3 patients from OSMF showed C/A and A/A polymorphism respectively. 9 and 4 patients showed C/A and A/A polymorphism in leukoplakia subjects. Notably 13 (43%) of habitual chewers also showed polymorphism. Conclusion: Within the limitations of the present study it can be concluded that there is a correlation of E-cadherin gene polymorphism with OSMF & leukoplakia.