Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a panel of biomarkers for the detection/diagnosis and prognosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Biomarkers for the detection/diagnosis of carcinoma cells identified by proteomic profiling and, detection/identification of selected proteins that are differentially regulated, in a biological sample from an individual as candidate markers. The biomarkers are useful for non-invasive early detection/prognosis focusing on the protein profiling of saliva at different stages of oral pre-cancer and cancer progression. Furthermore, the present invention deals with novel methods of diagnosing and for providing a prognosis for oral cancer and periodontal disease. In addition, the invention also provides kits that are useful for the practice of the methods of the invention.

Abstract: The present invention describes a method utilizing a set of genes or gene products whose altered expression in cancer tissue, particularly head and neck cancer and other carcinomas, or its adjacent normal tissues predicts (a) probability of recurrence in time after treatment (b) sensitivity or resistance to therapies or (c) probability of metastasis at the time of initial discovery of the tumor. Furthermore, the invention describes methods of determining the molecular signature in tumor tissues, tissues adjacent to the tumor, or in saliva by using DNA microarray techniques, quantitative real-time PCR, immunohistochemistry or other methods that are used for determining gene or gene product expression levels.