Molecular biomarker identification in non-invasive material for OSCC – a dual-omics approach

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), is a group of related neoplasms, which belong to Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma and hold the sixteenth position in malignancy worldwide. Most oral malignancies are diagnosed in the late stage, resulting in a worse prognosis rate for oral cancer patients. Therefore, early diagnosis helps to prevent disease complications. Precise and simple diagnostic as well as easy transferable procedures to everyday clinical practice are of great importance to this field. In the light of emerging diagnostic methods molecular cancer biomarkers are measurable nucleic acids and proteins, that can be detected in patient samples and help to identify cancer. Until December 2023 our study includes a total of n=116 patients. These are divided into four different groups. A control group with healthy people, a high-risk group consisting of patients with high tobacco/alcohol consumption, patients with acute cancer and another control group with cancer patients after treatment. All SCC that can be reached in the oral region with mouthwashes/swabs are included in this study, as well as HPV positive and HPV negative cancer types. We have established two methods to use RNA of oral samples for analysis on transcriptomic level. In addition to that, we perform mass spectrometry with the blood serum for analysis on protein level. First biomarkers with a tendency of higher expression in the tumor group, compared to the control group were found. This study intends to highlight the opportunities of molecular biomarkers and demonstrates a dual-omics approach to identify new diagnostic markers for OSCC in non-invasive material. This could be important, not only for diagnosis, but also for control after tumor therapy.