The micronucleus assay in uncultured exfoliated buccal mucosa cells, involving minimally invasive sampling, was successfully applied to evaluate inhalation and local exposure to genotoxic agents, impact of nutrition and lifestyle factors. The potential use of the assay in clinics to monitor the development of local oral lesions and as an early biomarker for tumors and different chronic disorders was also investigated. A systematic review of the literature was carried out focusing on the clinical application of the assay. The literature search updated to January 2015 allowed to retrieve 42 eligible articles. Fifty three percent of investigations are related to oral, head and neck cancer, and premalignant oral diseases. Our analysis evidences a potential usefulness of the MN assay applied in buccal exfoliated cells in the prescreening and in the follow up of precancerous oral lesions. A significant excess of MN, in patients compared with matched controls was observed for subgroups of oral and neck cancer (meta-MR of 2.40, 95% CI: 2.02-2.85) and leukoplakia (meta-MR 1.88, 95% CI: 1.51-2.35). The meta-analysis of studies available on other tumors (meta-MR 2.00; 95% CI:1.66-2.41) indicates that the MN frequency in buccal cells could reflect the chromosomal instability of other organs. Increased MN frequency was also observed in small size studies on patients with chronic diseases, with Alzheimer's disease and with Down syndrome. The application of the cytome approach providing information of genotoxic, cytotoxic and cytostatic effects is suggestive of the possibility of an improvement in the predictive value of the assay and this deserves further investigations.

中文翻译：

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微核试验在脱落颊细胞中的临床应用：系统评价和荟萃分析。

在未培养的脱落的颊粘膜细胞中进行微核试验，涉及微创取样，已成功地用于评估吸入和局部暴露于遗传毒性剂，营养和生活方式因素的影响。还研究了该测定法在临床上可能用于监测局部口腔病变的发展以及作为肿瘤和其他慢性疾病的早期生物标志物的潜在用途。对文献的系统综述着眼于该测定法的临床应用。文献检索更新至2015年1月，共检索了42篇合格文章。53％的调查与口腔癌，头颈癌和癌前口腔疾病有关。我们的分析表明，在口腔癌前病变的预筛查和随访中，应用于颊脱落细胞的MN检测可能具有潜在的实用性。与口腔癌相比，口腔癌和颈癌亚组（meta-MR为2.40，95％CI：2.02-2.85）和白斑（meta-MR 1.88，95％CI：1.51-）与对照组相比，MN明显过量。 2.35）。对其他肿瘤的研究的荟萃分析（meta-MR 2.00； 95％CI：1.66-2.41）表明，颊细胞中的MN频率可以反映其他器官的染色体不稳定。在对患有慢性病，阿尔茨海默氏病和唐氏综合症的患者进行的小型研究中，也观察到了MN频率增加。细胞学方法的应用提供了遗传毒性信息，