Study of Caspase 8 mutation in oral cancer and adjacent precancer tissues and implication in progression

It is hypothesized that same driver gene mutations should be present in both oral leukoplakia and cancer tissues. So, we attempted to find out mutations at one of the driver genes, CASP8, in cancer and adjacent leukoplakia tissues. Patients (n = 27), affected by both of cancer and adjacent leukoplakia, were recruited for the study. Blood and tissue DNA samples were used to identify somatic mutations at CASP8 by next generation sequencing method. In total, 56% (15 out of 27) cancer and 30% (8 out of 27) leukoplakia tissues had CASP8 somatic mutations. In 8 patients, both cancer and adjacent leukoplakia tissues, located within 2–5 cm of tumor sites, had identical somatic mutations. But, in 7 patients, cancer samples had somatic mutations but none of the leukoplakia tissues, located beyond 5cm of tumor sites, had somatic mutations. Mutated allele frequencies at CASP8 were found to be more in cancer compared to adjacent leukoplakia tissues. This study provides mutational evidence that oral cancer might have progressed from previously grown leukoplakia lesion. Leukoplakia tissues, located beyond 5cm of cancer sites, were free from mutation. The study implies that CASP8 mutation could be one of the signatures for some of the leukoplakia to progress to oral cancer.