Introduction
Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a chronic progressive fibrosing disorder of the oral cavity. Commonly in fibrosis, TGF-β1 promotes the transdifferentiation of fibroblasts into α-smooth muscle actin (SMA)-secreting myofibroblasts. Integrin αvβ6 is not detectable on normal oral keratinocytes but is upregulated during tissue remodelling. αvβ6 is a key activator of TGF-β1 through its interaction with its latency associated peptide.