Saliva tests and blood tests are said to be effective in detecting throat and neck cancers. This medical discovery opens up the possibility of earlier and more effective screening for these cancers.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (United States) have detected genetic markers for several throat and neck cancers in saliva and blood.
“We have demonstrated the ability to detect and measure the DNA of these cancers in blood and saliva,” said Dr Nishant Agrawal, an oncologist and professor of head and neck surgery at Johns School of Medicine. Hopkins (Maryland), principal author of this work.
And, “combining genetic analyzes of blood and saliva may therefore be the best approach to detect all head and neck cancers,” said Dr Agrawal.
To validate this discovery, the scientists analyzed saliva and blood samples from 93 patients diagnosed with one of these two cancers.
Conclusive results
The results of the study showed that all 46 tumors of the oral cavity were correctly identified by genetic analyzes of the saliva.
16 of 34 tumors of the oropharynx were recognized, seven of those of the larynx (70% of them) and two of the three cancers of the hypopharynx.
Cancerous DNA tests in the blood detected 91% of tumors in the oropharynx, 86% in the larynx and 100% in the hypopharynx.
“Our tests indicate that the genetic analysis of saliva is the best way to detect cancers in the oral cavity (tongue, gums, lips) while tumor DNA in the blood appears to be more effective in detecting tumors located in the mouth. the throat like the larynx, hypopharynx and oropharynx, ”he explains.
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