MINI REVIEW article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Immunology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1616344
This article is part of the Research TopicNutritional Impacts on Human Tumor Development and Immune SystemView all 8 articles
Role of micronutrition in patients with oral cancer and nutritional intervention strategies
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Medicine, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212001, China, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
- 2Department of ICU, Xinghua People's Hospital Affiliated to Yangzhou University, Xinghua 225700, China., Xinghua, China
- 3Center for Intravenous Infusion Therapy and Nursing, Affiliated People's Hospital of Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212004, China, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
- 4Department of Internal Medicine, Xinghua People's Hospital Affiliated to Yangzhou University, Xinghua 225700, China, xinghua, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Oral cavity cancer exhibits high mortality rates with conventional therapies often causing nutritional complications. Emerging evidence highlights the critical role of micronutrients in modulating oxidative stress, a key driver of carcinogenesis in precancerous lesions including oral lichen planus, leukoplakia and submucous fibrosis. Zinc deficiency impairs antioxidant defenses while copper excess promotes angiogenesis. Selenium maintains redox balance through selenoproteins and vitamins A, E and C exhibit chemopreventive effects through reactive oxygen species scavenging and immunomodulation. Immunonutrition strategies incorporating omega-3 fatty acids and arginine demonstrate benefits in postoperative outcomes. This review summarizes the mechanistic roles of antioxidant micronutrients including zinc, copper, selenium and vitamins A, D, E, C and B complex in oral squamous cell carcinoma pathogenesis and explores personalized nutritional interventions to enhance treatment tolerance and quality of life. Optimizing micronutrient status represents a promising adjuvant approach in comprehensive oral cancer management.
Keywords: Oral cavity cancer, Micronutrients, Inflammation, Immunity, Nutritional intervention, Oxidative Stress
Received: 22 Apr 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fan, Feng and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wenxin Liu, Department of Internal Medicine, Xinghua People's Hospital Affiliated to Yangzhou University, Xinghua 225700, China, xinghua, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.