Improving accuracy of RNA-based diagnosis and prognosis of oral cancer by using noninvasive methods

Well over a decade ago the first studies were published that attempted to allow the identification of head and neck and, more narrowly, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) based on gene expression [1–3]. These studies relied on surgical biopsy to obtain tissue from which RNA was purified then analyzed. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, this work did not lead to a method of tumor detection superior to that of histopathology of surgically obtained tissue by single biopsy, which is accurate 90% of the time [4].

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