Leaving no stone unturned: Role of profibrotic genes in oral submucous fibrosis – A systematic review

INTRODUCTION: Understanding the molecular pathogenesis of an entity helps in devising the mode of progression as well as mode of therapy. Even with years of research to claim the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is limited. More deeper knowledge of the genes responsible for this will help in understanding and managing this disease better. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The articles published during a time period of 1990–2020 were chosen in accordance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria according to the PRISMA guidelines. RESULTS: From a total of 80 articles obtained from both electronic search of PUBMED, EMBASE, MEDLINE and Cochrane registry as well as the manual search only 21 articles were selected and analyzed. CONCLUSION: Careful analysis of the samples revealed that transforming growth factor-beta may be a potential biomarker or a candidate for targeted therapy in OSMF.