The increasing number of cases of Oral cancer, in India,continues to pose a community health care challenge, owing to patient delays and the diagnosis of the disease at an advance stage. Despite multiple efforts directed towards creating awareness for prevention, early detection and providing access to treatment and rehabilitation, the survival rate continues to loom at 50%. The ever-evolving disease was once viewed as a result of exposure to carcinogens such as Tobacco(smoked/chewed), Areca (betel nut) and alcohol. Newer data has confirmed the role of innate host factors such as inflammation; in potentiating and promoting carcinogenesis, even in individuals with no deleterious habits.
A study undertaken by Dr. Anupama Mukherjee, an Oral Pathologist (Goa Dental College and Hospital) with the support of the Goa Cancer Society (GCS), delved to understand the role of a significant inflammatory cell – Tumor associated macrophage in Oral Squamous cell carcinoma, and its impact on prognosis. The findings revealed the sinister role of these, otherwise host protective cells (macrophages), as tumor promoters when hijacked by the cancer cells and its microenvironment.
The study was well received by the International Association of Oral Pathologists(IAOP) and American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology(AAOMP)– at the Joint AAOP-IAOP Congress at Vancouver. A travel grant was awarded to the investigator, Dr. Anupama Mukherjee, to represent Goa and India at the Congress and showcase the research work. An abstract of the work was published in the journal- Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology, July 2019. The entire study was subsequently published in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, May, 2021.
