Objective: To establish the role of biochemical and genetic markers in predicting the malignant potential of premalignant lesions of the oral cavity and oropharynx.
Design: Systematic literature review with set criteria for identifying studies and assessing quality of data. Studies were identified using MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, Cochrane, CINAHL, and AMED. Studies were included if they assessed correlation between studied markers and histologic grade or clinical outcome.