Diagnosis by saliva

Saliva analysis will reveal nasopharyngeal cancer in the early stages

Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+

Nasopharyngeal cancer is often detected at a late stage, when treatment becomes ineffective. The problem is compounded by the fact that the number of cases of this disease in Western countries is growing rapidly – possibly due to the spread of oncogenic human papillomavirus.

An international team of researchers from Duke University, the University of California and the University of Birmingham have introduced a new non-invasive method for the diagnosis of nasopharyngeal tumors. It is based on the analysis of saliva for the presence of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16). It is this strain that is associated with an increased risk of cancer, notes Science Daily.

Article by Wang et al. Acoustofluidic Salivary Exosome Isolation is published in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics – VM.

The technique makes it possible to identify viral particles in exosomes contained in saliva – tiny bubbles produced by cells. It is believed that they play an important role in intercellular communication, and in some cancers their concentration increases. Using a special chip, scientists concentrate saliva samples with a high content of exosomes, which facilitates analysis.

The device has two modules using acoustic waves (PBS) with a frequency of 20 and 40 MHz, removing micrometric (cells) and submicrometric (exosomes) from the sample particles – VM.

An experiment with saliva samples from 10 patients confirmed the effectiveness of the new approach. The accuracy of the method was 80%.

According to scientists, the technique is ideally suited for clinical use. Analysis is inexpensive, and sample processing takes only five minutes. In addition, it allows you to monitor the development of the disease and the effectiveness of treatment.

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