Salivary biomarkers in cancer

In recent years, the comprehensive analysis of saliva, i.e., salivaomics, has played an increasing role in biomarker discovery for disease detection in general and cancer specifically. Saliva is a readily accessible, non-invasive and low-cost specimen that can be used to detect biomarkers of clinical relevance. Saliva-based "omics" technologies, which include proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and microbiomics, have rapidly evolved and may be applicable in point-of-care detection, liquid biopsy and nanoscience. Advances in analytical methods has increased the scope and application of salivaomics from solely the oral cavity to the entire physiologic system, and accordingly to personalized medicine. In this chapter, we highlight recent advances in analytical approaches to identify and detect biomarkers in saliva and their potential use as diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic markers with a focus on cancer.