UCLA

Cancer, a local disease at an early stage, systemically evolves as it progresses by triggering alterations in surrounding microenvironment, disturbing immune surveillance and further disseminating its molecular contents into circulation. This pathogenic characteristic of cancer makes the use of biofluids such as blood/serum/plasma, urine, tear and cerebrospinal fluids credible surrogates harboring tumor tissue-derived molecular alterations for the detection of cancer. Most importantly, a number of recent reports have credentialed the clinical validity of saliva for the detection of systemic diseases including cancers. In this review, we discussed the validity of saliva as credible biofluid and clinical sample type for the detection of cancers. We have presented the molecular constituents of saliva that could mirror the systemic status of our body and recent findings of salivaomics associated with cancers. Recently, liquid biopsy to detect cancer-derived circulating tumor DNA has emerged as a credible cancer-detection tool with potential benefits in screening, diagnosis and also risk management of cancers. We have further presented the clinical validity of saliva for liquid biopsy of cancers and a new technology platform based on electrochemical detection of cancer-derived ctDNA in saliva with superior sensitivity and point-of-care potential. The clinical utilities of saliva for the detection of cancers have been evidenced, but biological underpinning on the existence of molecular signatures of cancer-origin in saliva, such as via exosomal distribution, should be addressed in detail.