Soon, salivary proteins may replace blood tests as diagnostic tools, as researchers carry on research cataloguing the "complete" salivary proteome, a set of proteins in human ductal saliva.

Saliva proteomics and diagnostics is part of a nationwide effort to create the first map of every human protein and every protein interaction, as they contribute to health and disease and as they act as markers for disease states. Following instructions encoded by genes, protein "machines" make up the body's organs and regulate its cellular processes. Defining exact protein pathways on a comprehensive scale enables the development of early diagnostic testing and precise drug design. In the current study, researchers sought to determine the "complete" set of proteins secreted by the major salivary glands (parotid, submandibular (SM) and sublingual (SL)). Recent, parallel efforts that mapped the blood (plasma) and tear proteomes allows for useful comparisons of how proteins and potential disease markers are common or unique to different body fluids.

Certain salivary proteins have already been found to match proteins linked to Alzheimer's, Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases; breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancer; type I and II diabetes and other diseases.

This research is published in the Journal of Proteome Research.

Source: URMC