A dye can be used to identify abnormal oral areas that may become cancerous, say researchers in the Sept. 1 issue of the journal Cancer Research.
In a study funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, Canadian researchers applied the dye toluidine blue—an indicator of oral cancers—to suspect white lesions in the mouths of 100 patients during dental visits to determine the value of using the dye for imaging precancerous lesions.
In patients with dye-stained lesions, researchers found a strong association with loss of genetic information on one or more chromosomes.
Researchers also found that lesions that took up the toluidine blue were six times more likely to become squamous cell carcinomas than were lesions that did not. After performing biopsies, they discovered that the dye-stained lesions showed microscopic abnormal tissue development called dysplasia, which is associated with cancer risk.
Researchers then established that the dye-stained lesions had characteristic molecular alterations that are linked to a higher risk of developing oral cancers. Cells with molecular changes took up the blue dye before the lesions’ dysplasia became extensive.
The findings are among the first steps in designing and implementing an imaging screening program that oral health care professionals can use to make first-line decisions about early-stage biopsies and referrals for anticancer-related care.
"With enough training of those who are doing the screening, the dye should help the clinicians find those patients with lesions that should really be moved forward for assessment," said senior author Miriam Rosin, Ph.D., director of the BC Cancer Agency’s British Columbia Oral Cancer Prevention Program and professor, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
