Saliva-Based Tests for Oral Cancer

Early diagnosis of oral cancer and Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease involving dry eyes, dry mouth, and rheumatoid arthritis, may soon be possible with saliva-based tests, according to two presentations at the annual meeting of the American Association for Dental Research in March 2006 in Orlando (FL, USA).

Dr. David Wong and colleagues at the University of California in Los Angeles (Los Angeles, California, USA) examined 350 saliva samples from patients with oral cancer and a control group of healthy individuals. Seven messenger RNAs, which are used to build proteins, were increased in the patients with oral cancer.

The researchers have developed a test for detecting oral cancer, which would be particularly useful for screening individuals with risk factors for oral cancer, including patients older than 45 years, smokers, and alcohol drinkers. If we can catch someone with oral cancer at stage two instead of stage four, we can improve this person's five-year survival rate by 50%, which would be of tremendous service not only to the quality of life of the individual, but also to the healthcare burden of the country, said Dr. Wong.

Meanwhile, Dr. Jane C. Atkinson and colleagues at the U.S. National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research (Bethesda, MD, USA) have shown that saliva from patients with Sjogren's syndrome can be differentiated from that of healthy control subjects by varying concentrations of proteins. Diagnosis of Sjogren's syndrome currently requires a biopsy of the salivary gland, which sometimes has to be repeated. Researchers have long hoped to develop a noninvasive test that can be used instead of biopsy.

Dr. Atkinson's group used various tests to measure the protein profiles in saliva from 20 healthy comparison subjects and 41 patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome. Their results showed that the concentration of eight inflammatory proteins were at least two-fold higher in patients' saliva, while the concentration of two other proteins were decreased. These findings should help to diagnosis and treat the diseaase. Dr. Atkinson believes that replenishing these proteins in artificial saliva will make treatment of patients' symptoms of dry mouth more effective.



Related Links:
University of California at Los Angeles
National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research