Sensitivity Analysis of a New Cancer Risk Assessment Tool That Evaluates Salivary Polyamines

Background: A method to assess cancer risk through salivary-polyamine analysis (SalivaChecker®, SalivaTech Co., Ltd., Tsuruoka, Japan) has been developed. However, studies evaluating the utility of this test in patients with cancer are lacking. Therefore, we evaluated the sensitivity of the SalivaChecker® test in patients with confirmed cancer. Materials and methods: The SalivaChecker® test was performed in 66 patients with confirmed cancer. The risk of six types of cancer (lung, pancreatic, gastric, colorectal, breast (for women only), and oral cancers) was assessed. Results: The overall cancer detection rate, which is defined as the rate of detecting the risk for any cancer in the individual, was 68.2%. The detection rates according to the cancer site were as follows: lung cancer (13/14), pancreatic cancer (8/14), gastric cancer (4/6), colorectal cancer (12/17), breast cancer (3/8), and oral cancer (5/7). The overall cancer site detection rate, which was defined as correctly identifying the cancer site, was 28.8%. The detection rates for individual cancers were as follows: lung cancer (4/14), pancreatic cancer (7/14), gastric cancer (3/6), colorectal cancer (1/17), breast cancer (3/8), and oral cancer (1/7). Conclusion: The sensitivity of the SalivaChecker® was 68.2%. Future studies should assess the specificity of this test in patients without cancer to further evaluate its utility.