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According to researchers from the United States, saliva has been playing an increasing role in recent years in the identification of various oral and systemic conditions. Salivary fluid is increasingly being utilized as a means of health surveillance. US researchers at the moment are trying to develop new ways to use salivary fluid for further indications. The latter include cancer diagnosis.

Dr. David Wong, professor of oral biology and medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Dentistry, wrote a recent article in to the October issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association. In this paper, he discusses the progress of his work in what is termed ‘salivaomics’ which means the study of the complex sets of molecules in saliva.

In the past several years several studies have suggested that salivary fluid can be used like other body fluids for health screening. During those studies, researchers designed multiple informatic and statistical tools aiming to assess biomarkers in saliva, which should help in earlier diagnosis of diseases, along with evaluating treatments and other objectives.

A study released online last March on the PLOS One journal indicated that exosomes, which refer to vesicles produced by cancer cells, can transfer tumor-specific information to various parts in the body. Salivary glands can receive this information, and thus cancer biomarkers can be detected in saliva.

Another study showed that variations in the oral microbiota can be linked to pancreatic cancer. It showed also that salivary fluid can be used as a method for detection of this type of cancer during its earlier stages.

However, there are very limited salivary fluid-based screening tests for detection of oral or systemic conditions. Just recently, the FDA approved an oral HIV screening test. The latter detects antibody presence in the salivary fluids.