Saliva, a substitute for blood?

Abstract

\n \n \n Point of Care (POC) testing offers an alternative to laboratory-based tests, near the patient, giving an easy and rapid access to a diagnostics. The majority of POC platforms use serum or plasma as a biological testing sample. Alternatives to non-invasive sampling in POC testing are emerging, such as the use of saliva or tears. Saliva needs little conservation and contains several biomarkers that are useful in the diagnostics of different clinical conditions. In this context, the aim of the study was to review the state-of-the-art of POC platforms using saliva.\n \n \n \n Advanced database research was conducted using B-on and PubMed, with ‘Point of Care’ and ‘Saliva’ as keywords, over the last 5 years. In the eligible articles, we looked for the disease or condition under evaluation and biomarker(s), test specificity and sensitivity, test duration, analytical method, POC platform state of development (commercially available, prototype or proof-of-concept).\n \n \n \n Sixty-eight articles were eligible for the study. The majority of the POC devices (71%) are prototypes. The most common biomarkers found are cortisol, α-amylase, MMP-8, glucose and infectious diseases related viruses. The turnaround time is relatively low, 30 seconds to 2.5 hours, in comparison to most laboratory-based tests.\n \n \n \n Saliva is an emerging bio fluid for POC testing, and its collection is non-invasive, contrarily to blood. A trend for salivary POC diagnostics is a reality for the assessment of health or disease status, over the last half-decade.\n