Advances in cellular and molecular mechanisms of oral submucosal fibrosis

Oral submucosal fibrosis(OSF)is a pathological process in which the oral mucosa forms abnormal repair in persistent chronic injury.It is characterized by inflammatory reactions,massive extracellular matrix deposition and vascular loss,ultimately leading to structural and functional damage of the oral mucosa.The infiltration of inflammatory cells is the fuse of oral submucosal fibrosis,suggesting that the immune microenvironment of local tissues plays an important role in its occurrence and development.Activated myofibroblasts can secrete large amounts of extracellular matrix,which reassemble and remodel,thereby resisting collagenase degradation,while the loss of blood vessels can significantly aggravate the progression of fibrosis.This article reviews the etiology of oral submucosal fibrosis and the effects of local tissue immune environment imbalance,extracellular matrix deposition and vascular loss on the progression of oral submucosal fibrosis.