Association of salivary miRNAs with onset and progression of oral potentially malignant disorders: Searching for noninvasive biomarkers

Wei Liu; Huan Shi; Zengtong Zhou; Chenping Zhang; Xuemin Shen

doi:10.1016/j.jds.2022.08.002

Association of salivary miRNAs with onset and progression of oral potentially malignant disorders: Searching for noninvasive biomarkers

J Dent Sci. 2023 Jan;18(1):432-436. doi: 10.1016/j.jds.2022.08.002. Epub 2022 Aug 20.

Authors

Wei Liu^{1

2

3}, Huan Shi^{2

4}, Zengtong Zhou^{2

5}, Chenping Zhang^{2

3}, Xuemin Shen^{2

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Stomatology, Fengcheng Hospital of Fengxian District, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital Fengcheng Branch Hospital, Shanghai, China.
² College of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, National Center for Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Stomatology, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial-Head and Neck Oncology, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Department of Oral Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Department of Oral Mucosal Diseases, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Background/purpose: There is an urgent need for noninvasive biomarkers to diagnose oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD). A wide range of over 20 miRNAs in saliva of OPMD patients have been investigated in different studies. Yet, which of the ones provide a better power of discrimination for the diagnosis of OPMD onset and progression are uncertain.

Materials and methods: A total of 17 eligible studies including 426 cases of OPMD and 486 control subjects (352 normal mucosa and 134 oral squamous cell carcinoma) were summarized.

Results: The bubble chart analysis showed that the most power salivary miRNA associated with OPMD onset was miR-21, followed by miR-31 and miR-142; the better power miRNAs associated with recurrence and malignant progression of OPMD were miR-31, miR-21, and miR-184.

Conclusion: Salivary miRNAs, especially miR-21 and miR-31, were associated with onset and progression of OPMD, and could then serve as noninvasive biomarkers for screening OPMD and detecting malignant changes.

Keywords: Bubble analysis; Noninvasive diagnosis; Oral cancer; Oral potentially malignant disorders; Saliva; microRNAs.