Sapkota Dipak, Søland Tine Merete, Galtung Hilde Kanli, Sand Lars Peter, Giannecchini Simone, To Kelvin K W, Mendes-Correa Maria Cassia, Giglio Daniel, Hasséus Bengt, Braz-Silva Paulo Henrique
Department of Oral Biology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Department of Oral Biology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
J Clin Pathol. 2020 Aug 7. doi: 10.1136/jclinpath-2020-206834.
The COVID-19 (caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)) epidemic started in Wuhan (Hubei Province, China) in mid-December 2019 and quickly spread across the world as a pandemic. As a key to tracing the disease and to implement strategies aimed at breaking the chain of disease transmission, extensive testing for SARS-CoV-2 was suggested. Although nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabs are the most commonly used biological samples for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis, they have a number of limitations related to sample collection and healthcare personnel safety. In this context, saliva is emerging as a promising alternative to nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 diagnosis and monitoring. Saliva collection, being a non-invasive approach with possibility for self-collection, circumvents to a great extent the limitations associated with the use of nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabs. In addition, various salivary biomarkers including the salivary metabolomics offer a high promise to be useful for better understanding of COVID-19 and possibly in the identification of patients with various degrees of severity, including asymptomatic carriers. This review summarises the clinical and scientific basis for the potential use of saliva for COVID-19 diagnosis and disease monitoring. Additionally, we discuss saliva-based biomarkers and their potential clinical and research applications related to COVID-19.
2019年12月中旬，新型冠状病毒肺炎（由严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）引起）疫情在中国湖北省武汉市爆发，并迅速蔓延至全球，成为大流行病。作为追踪该疾病以及实施旨在切断疾病传播链策略的关键，有人建议对SARS-CoV-2进行广泛检测。虽然鼻咽拭子/口咽拭子是SARS-CoV-2诊断中最常用的生物样本，但它们在样本采集和医护人员安全方面存在一些局限性。在这种背景下，唾液正成为用于新型冠状病毒肺炎诊断和监测的一种有前景的替代鼻咽拭子/口咽拭子的样本。唾液采集作为一种非侵入性方法且有可能自行采集，在很大程度上规避了与使用鼻咽拭子/口咽拭子相关的局限性。此外，包括唾液代谢组学在内的各种唾液生物标志物有望用于更好地了解新型冠状病毒肺炎，并可能用于识别包括无症状携带者在内的不同严重程度的患者。本综述总结了唾液用于新型冠状病毒肺炎诊断和疾病监测的潜在临床和科学依据。此外，我们还讨论了基于唾液的生物标志物及其与新型冠状病毒肺炎相关的潜在临床和研究应用。
