Local-regional relapse after definitive therapy is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and has prompted substantial efforts in identifying molecular biomarkers that accurately predict patients at risk for disease recurrence. Using leads from our earlier studies, the present project proposes to assess a panel of molecular markers namely p53, cyclin D1, elFE4, Mcl-1, survivin, bclxl, PCNA, EGFR, Pgp and bcl-2 in surgical margins, primary tumors and subsequent recurrences, using immunohistochemical staining in patients with recurrent gingivo-buccal oral cancers (50), which have been “adequately treated” and have subsequently recurred as compared to that in non recurrent gingivobuccal oral cancers (150) and their correlation with clinico-pathological parameters. Twenty-six recurrent and 26 non-reccurent cases have been assessed for p53 and Mcl-1 proteins as shown in fig. The studies are on-going and hope to determine if some of these markers can augment standard histopathological assessment and improve the prediction of local failure.