Salivary DNA methylation panel to diagnose HPV-positive and HPV-negative head and neck cancers

Abstract

Background: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a heterogeneous group of tumours with a typical 5 year survival rate of <40 %. DNA methylation in tumour-suppressor genes often occurs at an early stage of tumorigenesis, hence DNA methylation can be used as an early tumour biomarker. Saliva is an ideal diagnostic medium to detect early HNSCC tumour activities due to its proximity to tumour site, non-invasiveness and ease of sampling. We test the hypothesis that the surveillance of DNA methylation in five tumour-suppressor genes (RASSF1α, p16 INK4a , TIMP3, PCQAP/MED15) will allow us to diagnose HNSCC patients from a normal healthy control group as well as to discriminate between ..