(HealthDay News) – A model that incorporates loss of heterozygosity data can accurately predict which patients with low-grade oral cancer are likely to progress to higher grades, according to a study published online Aug. 21 in Cancer Prevention Research.

Lewei Zhang, PhD, from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and colleagues analyzed samples from 296 patients with mild-to-moderate (low-grade) oral dysplasia to classify the risk of progression based on a previously proposed loss of heterozygosity model.

The researchers found that 5-year progression rates were 3.1% for patients classified as low risk, 16.3% for those classified as intermediate risk, and 63.1% for those classified as high risk. The risk of progression was 11.6-fold greater in patients at intermediate risk and 52.1-fold greater in patients at high risk, compared with those at low risk. The model was validated in an independent group of patients.


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“In summary, this study provides the first validated molecular models for use in differentiating low-grade oral dysplasia at low risk for progression from those with greater risk, via the largest longitudinal study of low-grade oral premalignant lesions from a population-based patient group,” Zhang and colleagues conclude.

Abstract
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