Salivary diagnostics has fascinated many researcheres and has been tested as a valuable tool in the diagnosis of many systemic conditions and for drug monitoring. Advances in the field of molecular biology, salivary genomics and proteomics have led to the discovery of new molecular markers for oral cancer diagnosis, therapeutics and prognosis. Oral cancer is a potentially fatal disease and the outcome of the treatment and prognosis largely depends on early diagnosis. Abnormal cellular products elucidated from malignant cells can be detected and measured in various body fluids including saliva and constitute tumor markers. This article discusses the various salivary tumor markers and their role in oral pre-cancer and cancer.
Keywords: DNA markers; RNA markers; oral cancer; protein markers; salivary markers; tumor markers.