Abstract
Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) develop in a complex tissue microenvironment where they grow sustainably, acquiring oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) characteristics. The malignant tumor depends on interactions with the surrounding microenvironment to achieve loco-regional invasion and distant metastases. Unlike abnormal cells, the multiple cell types in the tissue microenvironment are relatively stable at the genomic level and, thus, become therapeutic targets with lower risk of resistance, decreasing the risk of OPMD acquiring cancer characteristics and carcinoma recurrence. However, deciding how to disrupt the OPMD and OSCC microenvironments is itself a daunting challenge, since their microenvironments present opposite capacities, resulting in diverse consequences. Furthermore, recent studies revealed that tumor-associated immune cells also participate in the process of differentiation from OPMD to OSCC, suggesting that reeducating stromal cells may be a new strategy to prevent OPMD from acquiring OSCC characteristics and to treat OSCC. In this review, we discuss the characteristics of the microenvironment of OPMD and OSCC as well as new therapeutic strategies.
Highlights
The bidirectional communication between cells and the microenvironment is critical for normal tissue homeostasis [1], and in disordered tissues
The term “Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD)” has been used to broadly describe clinical presentations that may transform into oral carcinoma, including Oral Erythroplakia (OE), Oral Leukoplakia (OLK), Oral Lichen Planus (OLP), Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSMF), and Actinic Keratosis [5, 6]
The literature summarized in this review is encouraging for the OPMD microenvironment field and introduces new concepts and potential therapeutic strategies to reprogram the cells in the microenvironment
Summary
The bidirectional communication between cells and the microenvironment is critical for normal tissue homeostasis [1], and in disordered tissues. Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) develop in a complex tissue microenvironment where they grow sustainably, acquiring oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) characteristics. These clinical phenomena indicate new challenges in our understanding of the functions of inflammation and suggest new treatment strategies, including reeducating immune cells in OPMD and OSCC.
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