口腔癌属于头颈癌的一种，通常来自鳞状细胞，因此也被称为口腔鳞状细胞癌（OSCC）。虽然口腔癌的分子标记已经被发现，但同样的表观遗传标记却没有被充分探索。初步认为表观遗传和遗传变异是驱动肿瘤的离散机制，但对各种癌症的全外显子测序已经揭示了表观遗传和遗传变异之间的相互依赖性。这些表观遗传变化的可逆性使其成为癌症治疗的诱人目标。癌症中主要的表观遗传变化包括DNA甲基化和组蛋白修饰。这些变化有助于患者早期检测和预后评估。本文总结了表观遗传的透视角度，以了解口腔癌的病因学、表观遗传标志物和表观遗传药物，以实现更好的预测性诊断和治疗OSCC。 ©2023年。 作者（们）独家许可Springer Science+Business Media，LLC的一部分。

Oral cavity cancer is categorized under head and neck cancer that frequently develops from squamous cells hence also known as oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Although molecular markers for oral cavity cancer are already known, epigenetic signatures for the same haven't been explored much. Epigenetic and genetic alterations were initially thought to be discrete mechanisms driving the tumour but the whole exome sequencing of various cancers has revealed the interdependency of epigenetics and genetic alterations. The reversible nature of these epigenetic changes makes them an alluring target for cancer therapeutics. The primary epigenetic alterations in cancer include DNA methylation and histone modifications. These alterations are useful for patient early detection and prognostication. This review summarizes the epigenetic perspective to understand the etiology, epigenetic biomarkers, and epi-drugs for better predictive diagnosis and treatment of OSCC.© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.