Study shows saliva proteins could help detect oral cancer - Lifestyle News

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Clinicians could detect oral squamous cell carcinoma, a form of oral cancer, using a simple test that detects proteins in saliva, according to a report in the Oct. 1 issue of U.S. Clinical Cancer Research.

Researchers collected saliva samples from 64 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and 64 healthy patients. Five candidate biomarkers were successfully validated using immunoassays. The presence of these biomarkers confirmed the presence of oral cancer93 percent of the time.

Previous studies have shown that saliva can be a useful diagnostic tool, but this is the first study to globally evaluate saliva protein levels from oral cancer patients. Since it is very simple to collect and process saliva fluids, the discovery of these biomarkers may lead to a useful clinical tool for noninvasive diagnosis of oral cancer in the future, said the journal.

"This test is currently not available, but we are developing near-the-site-of-patient-care microfluidic devices to detect these markers that we can use in clinical trials," said Shen Hu from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry.

"I believe a test measuring these biomarkers will come to a point of regular use in the future," Hu said. "We have demonstrated a new approach for cancer biomarker discovery using saliva proteomics."