Abstract
“Omics” based concepts and techniques are gaining momentum in the field of oral medicine, spurred on by rapid advancements within the field of precision diagnostics and therapeutics. Oral cancer, specifically oral squamous cell carcinoma is the most common head and neck cancer, posing both diagnostic and prognostic challenges globally. Saliva offers several advantages as a diagnostic tool and has gained recognition as a biological medium for liquid biopsy. Salivary biomarkers, such as exosomes not only contain the full spectrum of genomic, lipidomic and proteomic material from its cell of origin, but are also more stable and consistently measurable in saliva due to their phospholipid structural protection of their merchandise/contents. Salivary exosomes are mediators in communication and transfer of contents between cancer and normal cells and thus key role players in mediating the tumor environment. Even though exosomes have been widely employed to investigate systemic diseases including head and neck cancers, unraveling the biologic mechanisms, scope of application of salivary tumor-derived exosomes and overcoming restrictions in this emergent field of saliva-exosomics warrants further investigation.
Highlights
IntroductionThat there is a relatively wider coverage and application of several emerging molecular and omics-based techniques, in the field of medicine; many of these concepts (and techniques) are only beginning to gain recognition in the field of dentistry [1]
Nano-scaled multivesicular exosomes have emerged as important components of the tumor circulome that has significantly improved the cancer diagnostic field [11, 14]
Salivary exosomes have been applied to improve the diagnosis of various cancers [19–26], Oral Cancer - Current Concepts and Future Perspectives including oral cancers [25, 26]
Summary
That there is a relatively wider coverage and application of several emerging molecular and omics-based techniques, in the field of medicine; many of these concepts (and techniques) are only beginning to gain recognition in the field of dentistry [1]. The completion of the human genome project [2–4], has expanded the trajectory for precision diagnostic and therapeutic potential thereof across many biomedical fields [5, 6]. Orthogonal (but complementary) multimodal approaches to conventional histopathology [10, 11], such as liquid biopsies technologies have emerged as useful tools for clinical oncology [11–13], early tumor diagnosis and biomonitoring [14–17], as well as therapeutic decision making and delivery [18]. Nano-scaled multivesicular exosomes have emerged as important components of the tumor circulome that has significantly improved the cancer diagnostic field [11, 14]. Salivary exosomes have been applied to improve the diagnosis of various cancers [19–26], Oral Cancer - Current Concepts and Future Perspectives. The focus of this chapter is to review the applications and prospects of salivary exosomes in oral cancer detection (Figure 1)
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