Oral and oropharyngeal cancers represent the two most common malignancies of the head and neck region. The major risk factors for these cancers include alcohol consumption, tobacco use (via smoking or chewing) and high-risk human papillomavirus infection. The transition from normal epithelium to premalignant tissue and finally carcinoma is in part caused by a summation of genetic and epigenetic modifications. Epigenetic refers to modifications in the way the genome is expressed in cells. The most common examples of epigenetic control of gene expression are DNA methylation, histone modification and regulation by small non-coding RNAs. The aim of the current paper was to review the recent studies on the main epigenetic changes that have been suggested to serve a role in the carcinogenesis process and progression of oral and oropharyngeal cancers. Furthermore, it is discussed how the epigenetic changes may be used as potential predictive biomarkers and how recent findings in the field may impact the personalized cancer therapy approach for these tumors.
Keywords: epigenetics; human papillomavirus; oral squamous cell carcinoma; oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.