Oral Cancer Salivary Test

Advanced Laboratory Services, in collaboration with a research team at the University of Southern California, has developed a new test that can assist health care professionals in the early detection, diagnosis and treatment of oral cancers. Advanced Laboratory’s saliva biomarker test measures three specific biomarkers that play a role in cancer development.

As a monitoring tool, the test has the potential to be an essential part of every patient’s annual general-health or dental check-up.

With monitoring of biomarker levels determined by the saliva biomarker test, cancer development in patients can be detected far earlier than previously possible. On average, one person in the United States dies every hour from oral cancer; but it’s not because the cancer is difficult to discover or diagnose. It’s because the cancer is often detected late in its development.

One of the advantages of the saliva biomarker test is that it does not rely on localization of a lesion to detect cancer, and can thus detect oral cancers at treatable stages.

Health care professionals can utilize this test during multiple stages of diagnosis and treatment:
As a yearly screening tool: The test can be used as an annual screening to assess cancer risk-levels in patients 18 and older.
As a prognosis tool: Patients already diagnosed with oral cancer with higher biomarker levels tend to have poorer outcomes, and may require more aggressive treatment.
As a post-treatment monitoring tool: The test can be used to assess whether reoccurrence is likely before a new cancer lesion has developed.

Advanced Laboratory’s test is a simple, noninvasive saliva test that can detect biomarkers across a range of cancers in the oral cavity, including cancers of the tongue, floor of the mouth, cheek lining, gums, palate, salivary glands and tissues that line the mouth and lips.