Researchers in this study were looking for epigenetic changes within the cells. These changes are associated with cancer development. In this study it was found that there was a signature epigenetic change in those who smoked. While looking for this signature, it was discovered that they were able to differentiate between cancerous tissue and non-cancerous tissue. These included cancers not only localized in the mouth but throughout the body. This signature was also able to predict if precancerous lesions would form into a full-blown cancer.
I found this article to be interesting because cancers could be detected from a simple cheek swab. It was interesting that it was cancers that are not localized to that specific area but throughout the entire body. This article went on to say that researchers had found that cheek cells may be better at indicating epigenetic changing in women than if blood cells were used. Cheek cells showed approximately a 40-fold increase in abnormal genetic activity.
This article was kind of interesting to me because it reminded me of various situations my grandmother experienced during her battle with cancer. Many of the chemotherapy drugs would create sores in her mouth. The oncologist explained that this was because the drugs attacked rapidly multiplying cells in the body, which cheek cells happened to be. So I'm curious as to whether this has any influence in the cheek swab's ability to detect cancerous cells. Overall, this was a really cool article and it'll be interesting to see how much this test can be utilized in the future for early cancer detection.
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