Omics’ in oral cancer: A comprehensive review

Abstract

Health and disease states are dictated or accompanied by corresponding alterations in genes, mRNAs, proteins and metabolites. Over the past few decades, various ‘omic’ technologies have been developed to study the genome, transcriptome, proteome and metabolome respectively. Since oral cancers are one of the leading causes of death globally, much of research work has attempted to study the analytes in cancerous conditions by utilizing the various ‘omic’ modalities. These studies have aimed to understand the pathogenesis of head and neck cancers, aid in their diagnosis, devise new treatment strategies, and improve prognosis. It is imperative for surgeons and pathologists to be in line with the updates pertaining to various ‘omic’ methodologies available for studying the analytes. The present review comprehensively describes the development of various ‘omic’ technologies, including- genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics, while emphasizing their applicability in oral cancers.