Abstract
Background: The aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) has been associated with several diseases, including cancer, inflammatory, and autoimmune conditions. Interest in salivary miRNAs as non-invasive tools for the diagnosis of malignancies and systemic diseases is rapidly increasing. The present systematic review was developed for answering the question: “Are salivary microRNAs reliable biomarkers for diagnosis of cancer and systemic diseases?” Methods: The application of inclusion and exclusion criteria led to the selection of 11 papers. Critical appraisals and quality assessments of the selected studies were performed through the National Institute of Health “Study Quality Assessment Tool” and the classification of the Oxford Center for Evidence-Based Medicine. Results: Seven studies reported statistically significant correlations between one or more salivary miRNAs and the investigated disease. The critical analysis allowed us to classify only two studies (18.2%) as having “good” quality, the rest being scored as “intermediate” (8; 73%) and “poor” (1; 9%). Evidence exists that salivary miR-940 and miR-3679-5p are reliable markers for pancreatic cancer and that miR140-5p and miR301a are promising molecules for the salivary diagnosis of gastric cancer. Conclusions: Further studies, possibly avoiding the risk of bias highlighted here, are necessary to consolidate these findings and to identify new reliable salivary biomarkers.
Highlights
MicroRNAs are short non-coding RNA molecules that are involved in the regulation of gene expression at transcriptional and post-translational levels. miRNAs constitute one of the most abundant classes of gene-regulatory molecules
The present systematic review was developed for answering the question: “Are salivary microRNAs reliable biomarkers for diagnosis of cancer and systemic diseases?” Methods: The application of inclusion and exclusion criteria led to the selection of 11 papers
Evidence exists that several salivary biomarkers can accurately describe peculiar pathological and physiological states [21]
Summary
MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are short non-coding RNA molecules (about 19–23 nucleotides long) that are involved in the regulation of gene expression at transcriptional and post-translational levels. miRNAs constitute one of the most abundant classes of gene-regulatory molecules. MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are short non-coding RNA molecules (about 19–23 nucleotides long) that are involved in the regulation of gene expression at transcriptional and post-translational levels. Different mechanisms have been established as responsible for the miRNAs’ deregulation in systemic disease and cancer Genetic alterations such as chromosomal rearrangements, genomic amplifications, deletions, or point mutations presumptively play an important role in disease initiation and progression through the aberrant expression of miRNAs located in the affected regions and, subsequently, by deregulation of their downstream mRNA targets. The aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) has been associated with several diseases, including cancer, inflammatory, and autoimmune conditions. The present systematic review was developed for answering the question: “Are salivary microRNAs reliable biomarkers for diagnosis of cancer and systemic diseases?” Methods: The application of inclusion and exclusion criteria led to the selection of 11 papers. Conclusions: Further studies, possibly avoiding the risk of bias highlighted here, are necessary to consolidate these findings and to identify new reliable salivary biomarkers
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