Oral mucosal scrapes capture cancer associated microRNA expression consistent with histopathology
- Author(s)
- Kaunein, N; McCullough, M; Butler, C; Bhatia, N; Tan, I; Moore, C; Angel, C; Yap, T;
- Journal Title
- Scientific Reports
- Publication Type
- Online publication before print
- Abstract
- Oral mucosal abnormalities considered to have malignant potential may involve a large area of mucosa. Standard care histopathological investigation is invasive, limited to site selection and subject to variation in assessment between pathologists. A quantitative, minimally invasive, rapidly collected, oral mucosal site-specific assessment will assist in decision making and increase diagnostic precision. This study aimed to validate a workflow to analyse oral scrape derived cancer-associated microRNA analysis for mucosal site-specific assessment as a surrogate biomarker to histopathological diagnosis. Forty-one oral scrapes were collected from 33 patients undergoing investigation at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne before mucosal biopsy. RNA from oral scrapes was used to investigate ten cancer-associated microRNAs. An algorithm for categorical high or low-risk based on histopathological diagnosis was developed. The novel risk stratification algorithm utilised two microRNAs and categorised all cases of carcinoma and severe dysplasia as high-risk and accurately distinguished all non-potentially malignant disorders as low-risk lesions. This study provides proof-of-concept that oral scrapes can be predictably collected in a clinical workflow to assess the expression of cancer-associated microRNA specific to an oral mucosal site with minimal invasiveness.
- Keywords
- Algorithm; MicroRNA; Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma; Scrapes; miR-181; miR-21; miR-99a
- Department(s)
- Pathology
- Publisher's Version
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-45078-z
- Open Access at Publisher's Site
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-45078-z- Terms of Use/Rights Notice
- Refer to copyright notice on published article.
Creation Date: 2026-04-07 12:09:44
Last Modified: 2026-04-07 12:10:00