Salivary biomarkers: A boon to aid in early osteoporosis diagnosis
Salivary biomarkers of osteoporosis
Abstract
Osteoporosis is a crippling disease which has gripped our society and acts as a silent killer. Its early identification and treatment is the mainstay for its management. Saliva confers various merits over the conventional diagnostic aids which are available. Ease of accessibility, with no pain experienced by the patients accord it an edge over the current investigations. Its non-invasive nature obliviates a major deterrent to patient’s reluctance to testing. It can be easily rendered in susceptible or high risk patients even during routine dental checkup. Pro-inflammatory cytokine like Interleukin 6 (IL6) plays a vital role in bone remodelling and has shown increased levels in postmenopausal osteoporotic women. IL6 is encoded by the IL6 geneand osteoblasts secrete IL-6 to stimulate osteoclast formation. Increased level of salivary calcium has also been seen in postmenopausal osteoporotic women. Thus salivary Interleukin 6 and salivary calcium are viable aids for prompt identification in postmenopausal osteoporotic women. BGLAP gene encodes osteocalcin that is secreted by osteoblasts and regulates bone remodelling. Concentration of bone biomarkers like osteocalcin (OC) and deoxypyridinium (D-PYR) is found to be significantly correlated to serum osteocalcin and urinary deoxypyridinium, thus suggesting the use of saliva as diagnostic aid for assay of biomarkers for osteoporosis.
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