Researches at the UCLA School of Dentistry are on the path to creating a noninvasive diagnostic tool for pancreatic cancer – one of the deadliest forms of cancers. Typically the biopsy process for diagnosing pancreatic cancer is invasive and complex. However, the UCLA researchers have discovered significant evidence for using saliva as a simple risk assessment tool for pancreatic cancer.
The original UCLA Newsroom article states, “The UCLA researchers were able to definitively validate that pancreatic cancer biomarkers reside in saliva. To date, salivary biomarker panels have been successfully developed for cancers of the breast, ovaries, lungs and pancreas. However, researchers in the field of salivary diagnostics are still attempting to understand how biomarkers produced by other parts of the body ultimately appear in the mouth.”
Dr. David Wong, the dentistry school's associate dean of research and the Felix and Mildred Yip Endowed Professor in Dentistry, led the research team. Using a tumor-ridden mouse model, the researchers found that “tumor-derived extracellular RNA molecules are transported through organelles called exosome vesicles that originate at the source of the tumor and are re-processed into saliva as biomarkers.” The findings verify a mechanistic link between systemic diseases and their oral manifestation.
Wong’s team’s findings – recently published in Journal of Biological Chemistry – set the stage for further investigation into salivary biomarkers. "Dr. Wong and his team have provided verifiable evidence to fully explore the use of salivary biomarkers for the detection of life threatening disease in a way that is noninvasive and doesn't cause pain for the patient," said Dr. No-Hee Park, dean of the School of Dentistry.
Read the full article here.