Abstract
Oral cancer is among the deadliest types of malignancy due to the late stage at which it is usually diagnosed, leaving the patient with an average five-year survival rate of less than 50%. The booming field of biosensing and point of care diagnostics can, in this regard, play a major role in the early detection of oral cancer. Saliva is gaining interest as an alternative biofluid for non-invasive diagnostics, and many salivary biomarkers of oral cancer have been proposed. While these findings are promising for the application of salivaomics tools in routine practice, studies on larger cohorts are still needed for clinical validation. This review aims to summarize the most recent development in the field of biosensing related to the detection of salivary biomarkers commonly associated with oral cancer. An introduction to oral cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment is given to define the clinical problem clearly, then saliva as an alternative biofluid is presented, along with its advantages, disadvantages, and collection procedures. Finally, a brief paragraph on the most promising salivary biomarkers introduces the sensing technologies commonly exploited to detect oral cancer markers in saliva. Hence this review provides a comprehensive overview of both the clinical and technological advantages and challenges associated with oral cancer detection through salivary biomarkers.
Highlights
Oral cancer ranks as the 16th most common form of cancer, as 377,713 new cases were estimated worldwide in 2020, counting 177,757 deaths [1]
This review provides a comprehensive overview of the most advanced biosensing strategies that have been developed to perform early-stage diagnosis of oral cancer
Most common origin sites and diagnostic procedures related to oral cancer have been presented in order to contextualize the urgent need for more sophisticated diagnostic tools
Summary
Oral cancer ranks as the 16th most common form of cancer, as 377,713 new cases were estimated worldwide in 2020, counting 177,757 deaths [1]. There is an increasing interest in proteomic and genomic techniques, toluidine blue dye, light-base detection techniques, optical imaging systems and detection of biomarkers [16,18,20] The latter can be carried out in different biological fluids, such as serum, plasma, urine, and saliva, and may be fundamental to screen healthy subjects, allowing an early diagnosis of the disease and monitoring of at-risk patients [21,22,23]. The prognosis of OSCC, depends on several factors, such as patient lifestyle (smoking, alcohol consumption, etc.), presence of comorbidity and the tumor staging [5] In this context, the TNM system allows definition of the characteristics of the primary tumor, the involvement of lymph nodes and the presence of distant metastases to better clarify the prognosis [6]. The focus shifts on innovative diagnostic tools, namely biosensors and wearable sensing platforms, which are deemed to be a promising avenue for ultrasensitive and non-invasive early-stage detection of salivary biomarkers related to oral cancer
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