Saliva for Breast Cancer Screening
Scientist in the US are developing a screening test for breast cancer that checks a woman’s saliva for evidence of the disease to help find tumors early, when they are most treatable.
In research published recently, the scientists said they identified 49 proteins in saliva that the screening test would track to distinguish healthy women from those with benign breast tumors and those with malignant breast tumors.
Breast cancer triggers a change in the type and amount of proteins in secretions from the salivary glands, said Charles Streckfus, a professor of diagnostic sciences at the University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston.
The proteins are produced by tumour cells and affect cell growth, cell metabolism and cell self-destruction - all of which go awry in cancer, Streckfus said. Streckfus and colleagues tested saliva from 30 women - 10 healthy women, 10 with malignant breast cancer and 10 with benign breast tumours.
The pattern of proteins is different in each of the three groups, the researchers reported
in the journal Cancer Inve stigation. More work needs to be done before a screening test based on these proteins can be made available to the public, Streckfus said.
But US government approval for the test may be sought within five years, he added. Mammography and breast self examination for tumours are leading methods used for early detection of breast cancer. But Streckfus said mammograms - X-rays of the breasts - are too expensive in many developing countries and a cheap, easy-toperform screening test would be valuable.
Streckfus said he envisioned a saliva test as a quick, inexpensive and simple screening method.
