Whole saliva proteolysis: wealth of information for diagnostic exploitation.

Whole saliva (WS) protein profiles differ significantly from those of glandular salivary secretions. Rapid proteolysis of the prominent members of the salivary protein families by WS resident proteases appears to be a major cause for the observed differences. We propose that the rate and mode of glandular salivary protein degradation in the oral cavity contains information that could be of unique value in the diagnosis of oral disease.