Abstract

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a chronic insidious disease characterized by irreversible generalized fibrosis of the oral soft tissues. It is a debilitating disease of the oral cavity characterized by inflammation and progressive fibrosis of the sub mucosal tissues (lamina propria and deeper connective tissues). It results in marked rigidity and an eventual inability to open the mouth. 10% of the cases resulted to cancer. Associated disorders include leukoplakia and lichen planus. A thorough understanding of the etiopathogenesis of OSF is fundamental to the prevention and control of this dreadful disease. In the present study, attempts have been made to find out the association of polymorphic X-ray repair cross complementing group 1 (XRCC1) Arg399Gln DNA repair genes with the disease. OSF, a precancerous lesion, is attributable to oral chewing habits like chewing of areca nuts, betel quid, paan masala, gutkha and other forms of smokeless tobacco, a significant percent of which resulted to malignancy. Although, this disease is a significant public health burden, particularly in West Bengal, as well as India, no studies have yet investigated the impact of genetic determinants on host susceptibility to this oral disease in Indian population. To address this question, we have examined the frequency of XRCC1 399 genotypes in a cross-section of an asymptomatic population of West Bengal compared with the prevalence in OSF patients. In this study, 52 OSF patients were selected and 126 asymptomatic individuals were selected as control. From patient and control group, DNA was isolated and PCR was done for amplification of DNA. Then, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RPLF) was done to calculate and observe the association of different polymorphic forms of XRCC1 399 DNA repair gene {heterozygous mutant (Arg/Gln), homozygous mutant (Gln/Gln) or wild type (Arg/Arg) } with respect to OSF.

Key words: X-ray repair cross complementing group 1 (XRCC1), fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), polymorphic forms, oral submuscous fibrosis (OSF).