Salivary Biomarkers to Assess Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Progression: Are We There Yet?

Technological developments are propelling medical diagnostics forward at unprecedented rates. Advancements in genomic, proteomics and cellomics are leading the way for diagnostic tests that will be capable of rapid multi-analyte detection in both laboratory and non-laboratory settings. Currently, proof-of-principle has been demonstrated for salivary biomarkers, whose up and down regulation has been shown to correlate strongly with breast cancer among women. Consequently, the rationale for this chapter is to review the medical literature and present the current research focused on the use of saliva as a diagnostic medium for the study of early breast cancer progression.