Diagnostic Value of FTIR Spectroscopy, Metabolomic Screening and Molecular Genetics in Saliva for Early Detection of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC)
Author(s):
Kalpani Senevirathna, Nadeeka U Jayawardana, Ruwan D Jayasinghe, Bimalka Seneviratne* and AG Unil Perera*
Oral cavity cancer (OCC) has become a prevalent malignancy worldwide. Despite, the current developments of diagnoses and therapies, the 5-year survival rate has persisted at a dismal of 50% in recent decades. Histopathological evaluation remains the golden standard method for cancer detection. However, in some cases the histopathological assessment may not be able to give a definitive diagnosis due to pitfalls in the interpretation of biopsy samples. There are well identified benign conditions in the oral cavity that could mimic malignancy. Hence, it is a timely approach to understand the utility of other emerging techniques which could be used in conjunction with the histopathological assessment. Attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy has been employed extensively to diagnose various diseases by determining the chemical and molecular alterations. As a cost-effective, minimally invasive or non-invasive and label-free, bio spectroscopic technique this could be developed into an excellent diagnostic tool in the years to come. Besides this, OCC is known to alter the composition of metabolites in saliva. Analysis of the metabolomics in saliva of OCC patients could provide additional information that would be useful to establish a panel of biomarkers with regard to early detection. Furthermore, the rising epidemiological significance underlines the requirement of a better understanding of molecular mechanisms and the recognition of extrapolative tumor markers. Thus, gene expression analysis plays a vital role in identifying those genes related to the progression of this disease. In here, we review the potential applications of FTIR analysis in disease detection and metabolomics in verifying FTIR spectral data. Moreover, the genetic and epigenetic anomalies in OSCC will be briefly discussed along with the salivary biomarkers enabling the detection of this disease.