US researchers have identified all 1,116 unique proteins found in human saliva glands, a discovery they said on Tuesday could usher in a wave of convenient, spit-based diagnostic tests that could be done without the need for a single drop of blood.
As many as 20% of the proteins that are found in saliva are also found in blood, said Fred Hagen, a researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York who worked on the study. "This is potentially a large field that has many clinical implications in the area of disease diagnostics," said Hagen, whose work was published in the Journal of Proteome Research.
The researchers hope saliva-based tests could be used to diagnose cancer, heart disease, diabetes and a number of other conditions. "To be able to diagnose disease using saliva, you really have to have a comprehensive understanding of the saliva proteome," Hagen said.
Like a genome, which lists all of the genes in an organism, a proteome is a complete map of proteins. While genes provide the instruction manual, proteins carry out the instructions by regulating cellular processes. Experts from five universities — the University of Rochester, The Scripps Research Institute, the University of Southern California, The University of California San Francisco and the University of California Los Angeles — sought to determine the complete set of proteins secreted by the major salivary glands.
"Monitoring disease as well as drug use could be more easily done with saliva as opposed to blood or urine," Hagen said. Hagen said such tests could eventually replace uncomfortable and costly mammograms.
No comments:
Post a Comment