Understanding overall health status through saliva.

Department of Dentistry,Oral and Maxillofacial・Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.School of Medicine.Factory of Medicine
Lecturer

ISHIKAWA Shigeo

Saliva is a non-invasive and easily collectible biological material. We have conducted research using saliva to detect diseases that occur in the mouth (such as oral cancer). When examining substances in saliva overall, we found significant differences in the concentrations of substances in saliva between patients with oral cancer, patients with potentially malignant oral lesions (lesions that may develop into oral cancer), and healthy individuals (Figures 1, 2). From these results, we identified substances that can distinguish oral cancer from healthy individuals with approximately 82% accuracy (Figure 3).

▲Figure 1: Heatmap of Salivary Metabolites in Patients with Oral Cancer and Healthy Individuals

▲Figure 2: Heatmap of Salivary Metabolites in Patients with Oral Cancer and Patients with Potentially Malignant Oral Lesions

▲Figure 3: Accuracy of Discrimination between Oral Cancer and Healthy Individuals Using Saliva is Approximately 82%

Saliva is often referred to as a mirror reflecting the entire body, as it is known to not only reflect the condition of the mouth but also the overall health status. Therefore, we are conducting research to detect systemic cancers such as lung cancer and gastric cancer using saliva. Additionally, we are working on identifying substances that can detect conditions such as stress and fatigue, not just diseases.

We aim to further develop our research to understand and grasp the overall health status through simple tests using saliva.