Zürcher Christine, Humpel Christian
University Hospital for Restorative Dentistry and Periodontology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Laboratory of Psychiatry & Experimental Alzheimer's Research, Department of Psychiatry I, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Neural Regen Res. 2023 Dec;18(12):2606-2610. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.373675.
Biomarkers are molecules of biological processes that help in both the diagnosis of human diseases and in follow-up assessments of therapeutic responses. Biomarkers can be measured in many human fluids, such as blood, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, and saliva. The -omics methods (genomics, RNomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) are useful at measuring thousands of markers in a small volume. Saliva is a human fluid that is easily accessible, without any ethical concerns. Yet, saliva remains unexplored in regard to many human disease biomarkers. In this review, we will give an overview on saliva and how it can be influenced by exogenous factors. As we focus on the potential use of saliva as a diagnostic tool in brain disorders (especially Alzheimer's disease), we will cover how saliva is linked to the brain. We will discuss that saliva is a heterogeneous human fluid, yet useful for the discovery of biomarkers in human disorders. However, a procedure and consensus that is controlled, validated, and standardized for the collection and processing of saliva is required, followed by a highly sensitive diagnostic approach.
生物标志物是生物过程中的分子，有助于人类疾病的诊断和治疗反应的后续评估。生物标志物可以在许多人体体液中测量，如血液、脑脊液、尿液和唾液。“组学”方法（基因组学、核糖核酸组学、蛋白质组学和代谢组学）有助于在小体积样本中测量数千种标志物。唾液是一种易于获取的人体体液，不存在任何伦理问题。然而，关于许多人类疾病生物标志物，唾液仍未得到充分研究。在这篇综述中，我们将概述唾液以及它如何受到外源性因素的影响。由于我们关注唾液作为脑部疾病（尤其是阿尔茨海默病）诊断工具的潜在用途，我们将阐述唾液与大脑的联系。我们将讨论唾液是一种异质性的人体体液，但对于发现人类疾病中的生物标志物很有用。然而，需要一个经过控制、验证和标准化的唾液采集和处理程序及共识，随后采用高度灵敏的诊断方法。
