Tobacco carcinogen research to aid understanding of cancer risk and influence policy

Comparing the efficacy of chemiluminescence with lugol's iodine versus toluidine blue in the diagnosis of dysplasia in tobacco associated oral lesions - A diagnostic study

Background

Chemiluminescence is the production of light as a result of a chemical reaction. Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) include both precancerous lesions and conditions that carry an increased risk of cancer. There are different etiological and risk factors for OPMDs such as smoking, alcohol consumption, infections such as viral and fungal, sun exposure and certain other genetic factors. The most common etiological factor for OPMDs is tobacco usage. Chemiluminescence is a light-based detection system and is very useful for detecting OPMDs for early intervention. Because it is a non-invasive procedure, it can be used to evaluate dysplastic changes in various OPMDs at their initial stage for timely intervention. Vital staining has also been used as a chair-side marker for delineating normal and dysplastic oral mucosal tissues.

Aim

To compare the efficacy of chemiluminescence with Lugol's iodine to that with toluidine blue in diagnosing dysplastic changes in tobacco associated oral lesions.

Methodology

A total of 84 patients with clinically suspicious oral mucosal lesions and OPMDs with tobacco habit history were included and randomly assigned to either of the diagnostic study groups (Group A: chemiluminescence with Lugol's iodine or Group B: chemiluminescence with toluidine blue). All these patients were subjected to a histopathological examination (reference standard).

Results

The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and receiver operating characteristics (ROC) were 91.7%, 66.7%, 84.6%, 80%, and 0.792 for chemiluminescence with Lugol's iodine group (P = 0.001) respectively whereas for chemiluminescence with toluidine blue, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and ROC were 100%, 60%, 93.3%, 100% and 0.800 (P = 0.002), respectively.

Conclusion

The combination of chemiluminescence with toluidine blue had a better diagnostic efficiency in detecting dysplasia in tobacco-associated oral lesions when compared to the group of chemiluminescence with Lugol's iodine.

Targeting iron metabolism in cancer therapy

Iron is a critical component of many cellular functions including DNA replication and repair, and it is essential for cell vitality. As an essential element, iron is critical for maintaining human health. However, excess iron can be highly toxic, resulting in oxidative DNA damage. Many studies have observed significant associations between iron and cancer, and the association appears to be more than just coincidental. The chief characteristic of cancers, hyper-proliferation, makes them even more dependent on iron than normal cells. Cancer therapeutics are becoming as diverse as the disease itself. Targeting iron metabolism in cancer cells is an emerging, formidable field of therapeutics. It is a strategy that is highly diverse with regard to specific targets and the various ways to reach them. This review will discuss the importance of iron metabolism in cancer and highlight the ways in which it is being explored as the medicine of tomorrow.

A review of tobacco abuse and its epidemiological consequences

Aim

The economic burden caused by death and disease in the world is credited mainly to tobacco use—currently linked to approximately 8,000,000 deaths per year with approximately 80% of these faralities reported in low and middle income economies. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that nearly 7,000,000 deaths are attributed to direct tobacco use, while approximately 1,200,000 non-smokers exposed to second hand cigarette smoke die every year. Accordingly, tobacco use is a major threat to the public health infrastructure; therefore, proper cessation interventions must be put in place to curb tobacco abuse and ease economic and social burdens caused by the tobacco epidemic.

Methods

A systematic review was conducted to investigate how scientific efforts have been advanced towards harm reduction among smokers and non-smokers. Relevant articles published during the period 2010–2020 in PubMed, Crossref, Google scholar, and Web of Science were used in this study. The articles were selected based on health impacts of cigarette smoking, tobacco cessation and emerging diseases, including Covid−19. Various cessation strategies have been identified although their efficiency is yet to match the desired results.

Results

A series of carcinogenic chemicals are generated during cigarette smoking resulting in serious health complications such as cancer and mutagenesis. The precursors for tobacco induced diseases are toxic and carcinogenic chemicals of the nitrosamine type, aldehydes, polonium-210 and benzo[a]pyrene, which bio-accumulate in the body system during cigarette smoking to cause disease. Rehabilitation facilities, use of drugs to diminish the desire to smoke, heavy taxation of tobacco products and warning labels on cigarettes are some of the cessation strategies employed towards curbing tobacco abuse.

Conclusion

The need for further research to develop better methods and research based policies for safe cigarette smoking and workable cessation strategies must be a priority in order to deal with the tobacco epidemic. Campaigns to promote tobacco cessation and abstinence are recommended in this review as a sure measure to mitigate against the deleterious impacts caused by cigarette smoking and tobacco abuse.