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Review
. 2022 Oct 6;14(19):4882.
doi: 10.3390/cancers14194882.

Circulating Cell-Free DNA-Based Methylation Pattern in Saliva for Early Diagnosis of Head and Neck Cancer

Natalia Birknerova  1   2   3 , Veronika Mancikova  2   3 , Evan David Paul  2   3 , Jan Matyasovsky  2   3 , Pavol Cekan  2   3 , Vladimir Palicka  1 , Helena Parova  1
Affiliations
Review

Circulating Cell-Free DNA-Based Methylation Pattern in Saliva for Early Diagnosis of Head and Neck Cancer

Natalia Birknerova et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Head and neck cancer (HNC) remains one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide due to tumor diagnosis at a late stage, loco-regional aggression, and distant metastases. A standardized diagnostic procedure for HNC is a tissue biopsy that cannot faithfully portray the in-depth tumor dynamics. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop simple, accurate, and non-invasive methods for cancer detection and follow-up. A saliva-based liquid biopsy allows convenient, non-invasive, and painless collection of high volumes of this biofluid, with the possibility of repetitive sampling, all enabling real-time monitoring of the disease. No approved clinical test for HNC has yet been established. However, epigenetic changes in saliva circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) have the potential for a wide range of clinical applications. Therefore, the aim of this review is to present an overview of cfDNA-based methylation patterns in saliva for early detection of HNC, with particular attention to circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). Due to advancements in isolation and detection technologies, as well as next- and third-generation sequencing, recent data suggest that salivary biomarkers may be successfully applied for early detection of HNC in the future, but large prospective clinical trials are still warranted.

Keywords: DNA methylation; biomarker; cell-free DNA (cfDNA); circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA); early cancer detection; head and neck cancer; liquid biopsy; saliva.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
General overview of different cancer screening approaches.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scientific background of PacBio SMRT sequencing.
Figure 3
Figure 3
General depiction of ONT sequencing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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