Salivary cathelicidin LL-37 as a non-invasive biomarker for oral cancer detection.

Authors

Thaneja Ravichandran, Harshavardhan B G, Nandhini Ganesan, Sarswathi Gopal K

Published in

Bioinformation. Volume 22. Issue 6. Pages 3421-3424. Epub Jun 30, 2026.

Abstract

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the predominant form of oral malignancy, with late-stage diagnosis contributing to poor prognosis. Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) often precede OSCC, underscoring the need for early diagnostic biomarkers. Hence, salivary cathelicidin LL-37 levels were quantified using ELISA in 80 participants. Participants were divided into four groups: OSCC, tobacco- associated OPMDs, non-tobacco-associated OPMDs, and healthy controls. Salivary cathelicidin LL-37 levels increased progressively from healthy controls to OSCC cases (p < 0.001) with 100% sensitivity and 90% specificity. Thus, we show that salivary LL-37 is a reliable, non-invasive biomarker for early detection and monitoring of oral carcinogenesis.

PMID:
42701697
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Sep 2026.

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