Systematic verification of saliva-based biosignatures for oral cancer via targeted metabolomics.
A four-molecule saliva test reliably detects oral cancer and tracks risk, offering non-invasive screening for high-risk patients.
Targeted LC-MRM-MS metabolomics in 299 subjects (98 healthy, 103 OPMD, 98 OSCC) identified a four-metabolite salivary panel achieving AUC=0.91 for distinguishing OSCC from healthy controls, with cadaverine and N-acetylcadaverine progressively elevated from OPMD through OSCC stages. The findings support polyamine-associated metabolic reprogramming as a validated hallmark of oral malignant transformation and establish non-invasive salivary metabolomics as a clinically accessible tool for OSCC detection and risk stratification.
What the study was
- Study design
- diagnostic case-control study
- Population
- oral squamous cell carcinoma patients, oral potentially malignant disorder patients, and healthy controls
- Sample size
- 299
- Category
- Early Detection
- Maturity
- Validated
- Journal
- Journal of Food and Drug Analysis
Why it surfaced
Well-powered saliva-based metabolomics panel (n=299, AUC=0.91) with progressive disease-stage correlation addresses a significant clinical gap for non-invasive accessible OSCC screening; polyamine pathway provides a mechanistic basis for further biomarker development.
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