Role of Lycopene in Preventing Oral Diseases as a Nonsurgical Aid of Treatment

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Abstract

Without pigments, we are nothing. Life presents us with a kaleidoscope of colors. From the green grass of home to a forest's ruddy autumn hues, we are surrounded by living colors. Living things obtain their colors, with few exceptions, from natural pigments. In addition to their role in coloration, natural pigments carry out a variety of important biological functions. Of the various classes of pigments in nature, the carotenoids are among the most widespread and important ones, especially due to their varied functions. Lycopene is a red plant pigment found in tomatoes, apricots, guavas, watermelons, papayas, and pink grapefruits, with tomatoes being the largest contributor to the dietary intake of humans. Lycopene exhibits higher singlet oxygen quenching ability. Due to its strong color and nontoxicity, it is a useful food coloring agent. Moreover, it plays a multifunctional role as a nonsurgical aid in the treatment of oral diseases like leukoplakia, oral submucous fibrosis, lichen planus, oral squamous cell carcinoma, and also prevents the destruction of periodontal tissues. This review article focuses mainly on the role of lycopene in the prevention of various oral diseases.

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Prognosis of oral pre-malignant lesions: significance of clinical, histopathological, and molecular biological characteristics.

J Reibel (2002)

The concept of a two-step process of cancer development in the oral mucosa, i.e., the initial presence of a precursor subsequently developing into cancer, is well-established. Oral leukoplakia is the best-known precursor lesion. The evidence that oral leukoplakias are pre-malignant is mainly derived from follow-up studies showing that between < 1 and 18% of oral pre-malignant lesions will develop into oral cancer; it has been shown that certain clinical sub-types of leukoplakia are at a higher risk for malignant transformation than others. The presence of epithelial dysplasia may be even more important in predicting malignant development than the clinical characteristics. Three major problems, however, are attached to the importance of epithelial dysplasia in predicting malignant development: (1) The diagnosis is essentially subjective, (2) it seems that not all lesions exhibiting dysplasia will eventually become malignant and some may even regress, and (3) carcinoma can develop from lesions in which epithelial dysplasia was not diagnosed in previous biopsies. There is, therefore, a substantial need to improve the histologic assessment of epithelial dysplasia or, since epithelial dysplasia does not seem to be invariably associated with or even a necessary prerequisite for malignant development, it may be necessary to develop other methods for predicting the malignant potential of pre-malignant lesions. As a consequence of these problems, numerous attempts have been made to relate biological characteristics to the malignant potential of leukoplakias. Molecular biological markers have been suggested to be of value in the diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of leukoplakias. Markers of epithelial differentiation and, more recently, genomic markers could potentially be good candidates for improving the prognostic evaluation of precursors of oral cancer. As yet, one or a panel of molecular markers has not been determined that allows for a prognostic prediction of oral pre-cancer which is any more reliable than dysplasia recording. However, these new markers could be considered complementary to conventional prognostic evaluation.

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Oral leukoplakia: a clinicopathological review.

I Van der Waal, K.P. Schepman, E.H. van der Meij … (1997)

Leukoplakia is the most common premalignant or potentially malignant lesion of the oral mucosa. It seems preferable to use the term leukoplakia as a clinical term only. When a biopsy is taken, the term leukoplakia should be replaced by the diagnosis obtained histologically. The annual percentage of malignant transformation varies in different parts of the world, probably as a result of differences in tobacco and dietary habits. Although epithelial dysplasia is an important predictive factor of malignant transformation, it should be realized that not all dysplastic lesions will become malignant. On the other hand non-dysplastic lesions may become malignant as well. In some parts of the world the tongue and the floor of the mouth can be considered to be high-risk sites with regard to malignant transformation of leukoplakia, while this does not have to be the case in other parts of the world. The cessation of tobacco habits, being the most common known aetiological factor of oral leukoplakia, has been shown to be an effective measure with regard to the incidence of leukoplakia and, thereby, the incidence of oral cancer as well. Screening for oral precancer may be indicated in individuals at risk.

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Overview of mechanisms of action of lycopene.

Qing-Bin Lu, David Heber (2002)

Dietary intakes of tomatoes and tomato products containing lycopene have been shown to be associated with decreased risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases in numerous studies. Serum and tissue lycopene levels have also been inversely related to the risk of lung and prostate cancers. Lycopene functions as a very potent antioxidant, and this is clearly a major important mechanism of lycopene action. In this regard, lycopene can trap singlet oxygen and reduce mutagenesis in the Ames test. However, evidence is accumulating for other mechanisms as well. Lycopene at physiological concentrations can inhibit human cancer cell growth by interfering with growth factor receptor signaling and cell cycle progression specifically in prostate cancer cells without evidence of toxic effects or apoptosis of cells. Studies using human and animal cells have identified a gene, connexin 43, whose expression is upregulated by lycopene and which allows direct intercellular gap junctional communication (GJC). GJC is deficient in many human tumors and its restoration or upregulation is associated with decreased proliferation. The combination of low concentrations of lycopene with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 exhibits a synergistic effect on cell proliferation and differentiation and an additive effect on cell cycle progression in the HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cell line, suggesting some interaction at a nuclear or subcellular level. The combination of lycopene and lutein synergistically interact as antioxidants, and this may relate to specific positioning of different carotenoids in membranes. This review will focus on the growing body of evidence that carotenoids have unexpected biologic effects in experimental systems, some of which may contribute to their cancer preventive properties in models of carcinogenesis. Consideration of solubility in vitro, comparison with doses achieved in humans by dietary means, interactions with other phytochemicals, and other potential mechanisms such as stimulation of xenobiotic metabolism, inhibition of cholesterogenesis, modulation of cyclooxygenase pathways, and inhibition of inflammation will be considered. This review will point out areas for future research where more evidence is needed on the effects of lycopene on the etiology of chronic disease.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Int J Prev Med

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Int J Prev Med

Journal ID (publisher-id): IJPVM

Title: International Journal of Preventive Medicine

Publisher: Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd (India )

ISSN (Print): 2008-7802

ISSN (Electronic): 2008-8213

Publication date Collection: 2015

Publication date (Electronic): 05 August 2015

Volume: 6

Electronic Location Identifier: 70

Affiliations

[1]Department of Oral Pathology, Swami Devi Dyal Hospital and Dental College, Golpura, Barwala, Panchkula, Haryana, India

[1 ]Department Of Oral Pathology, Laxmibai Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Patiala, Punjab, India

[2 ]Department of Public Health Dentistry, Swami Devi Dyal Hospital and Dental College, Golpura, Barwala, Panchkula, Haryana, India

[3 ]Centre for Dental Education and Research, AIIMS, New Delhi, India

[4 ]Mullana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, New Delhi, India

Author notes

Correspondence to: Dr. Sonia Gupta, #95/3, Adarsh Nagar, Dera Bassi, Dist: Mohali, Punjab - 140 507, India. E-mail: sonia.4840@ 123456gmail.com

Article

Publisher ID: IJPVM-6-70

DOI: 10.4103/2008-7802.162311

PMC ID: 4542334

PubMed ID: 26330986

SO-VID: 784e5a4e-569e-450c-bf64-0352318ce86c

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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Role of Lycopene in Preventing Oral Diseases as a Nonsurgical Aid of Treatment

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Most cited references 62

Prognosis of oral pre-malignant lesions: significance of clinical, histopathological, and molecular biological characteristics.

Oral leukoplakia: a clinicopathological review.

Overview of mechanisms of action of lycopene.

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