The Diagnostic Potential of Salivary Bacteria as Indicators of Oral Cancer in Matched Populations Donna Mager , Phillip Devlin, Charles Norris, Marshall Posner, J Max Goodson Objectives: To determine whether certain species of oral bacteria in saliva may be used as diagnostic markers for oral cancer. Methods: Unstimulated saliva samples were collected by expectoration from 45 oral cancer subjects and 45 cancer-free subjects. The 2 populations were matched by age, gender and smoking history. All samples were evaluated for their content of 40 bacterial species using checkerboard DNA hybridization. The numbers of each species/ml were determined and the microbial profiles of the 2 populations were compared. Diagnostic sensitivity and specificity in detection of oral cancer by levels of salivary organisms were computed and comparisons made separately between the oral cancer population and the control group. Results: Preliminary results indicated that when saliva samples contained greater than 0.4x105 /ml of each of 3 species: C. gingivalis, P. melaninogenica and S. mitis, that sensitivity for the presence of oral cancer was 85%, while specificity was 82%. Conclusions: Determining levels of C. gingivalis, P. melaninogenica and S. mitis in saliva may be a sensitive and specific means of diagnosing oral cancer and broader testing is warranted. Salivary bacterial analysis may be useful as a predictive marker for development of oral cancer. AACR Abstract Number: LB-120, 2003 Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.