“Saliva is one of the most accessible biological fluids but it is still underutilized in clinical practice,” said José Ramón Bilbao, Professor of Medical Genetics at the EHU and one of the lead authors of the study. “Our results show that molecular markers present in saliva can reflect systemic pathological processes beyond the oral cavity.”

It is widely known that saliva samples are used to perform genetic tests to determine, for example, paternity, but the potential of saliva-based clinical analysis goes far beyond this, as shown in this research conducted by the EHU.

The research team analyzed saliva samples from more than 350 people and cataloged the common variations in DNA, known as genetic polymorphisms, or SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms), that could influence genome function in saliva. Specifically, they found that these polymorphisms act as a switch that activates or deactivates the function of the genes they affect.