Effects of Cigarette Smoke on the Human Oral Mucosal Transcriptome

40 current smokers and 40 age- and gender- matched never smokers underwent buccal biopsies.The study had four objectives: (a) to define the effects of smoking on the transcriptome of oral epithelial cells; (b) to determine if any of the effects of tobacco smoke on the transcriptome are gender-dependent; (c) to compare the effects of tobacco smoke exposure on the transcriptome in oral v. bronchial epithelium and (d) to identify agents with the potential to suppress the effects of tobacco smoke on the transcriptome. We used microarrays to provide new insights into the carcinogenic effects of tobacco smoke and offer insights that may prove useful in developing preventive strategies. 40 never smokers (<100 cigarettes per lifetime) and 40 active smokers (≥ 15 pack year exposure) were recruited. Subjects were age- and gender-matched. Eligible subjects were healthy volunteers recruited from the community and the hospital. Subjects were excluded if they had gross evidence of oral inflammation a history of heavy alcohol consumption or recent use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or other anti-inflammatory medications. The study was approved by the Weill Cornell Medical College Institutional Review Board and the Clinical and Translational Research Center. All subjects provided written informed consent for participation. After topical anestesia 5-mm punch biopsies were obtained from grossly normal appearing buccal mucosa. One sample was excluded from the study based on a quality measure leaving 79 for analysis and deposited here.