ORIGINAL ARTICLE Oral Health May Affect the Performance of mRNA-Based Saliva Biomarkers for Oral Squamous Cell Cancer József Horváth 1 & Adrien Szabó 2 & Ildikó Tar 3 & Balázs Dezső 4 & Csongor Kiss 5 & Ildikó Márton 6 & Beáta Scholtz 1 Received: 18 November 2016 /Accepted: 21 August 2017 # Arányi Lajos Foundation 2017 Abstract Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has a dis- mal 50% five-year survival rate, emphasizing the need to de- velop reliable and sensitive tools for early diagnosis. In this study we evaluated the performance of 7 previously identified, potential mRNA biomarkers of OSCC in saliva samples of Hungarian patients. Expression of the putative OSCC bio- markers (DUSP1, OAZ1, H3F3A, IL1B, IL8, SAT and S100P), 2 biomarkers of inflammation (IL6 and TNFα) and 8 putative normalizing genes was quantified from each sample using real-time quantitative PCR. In contrast with previous studies, the expression pattern of the 7 mRNA biomarkers was similar between OSCC patients and age-matched control patients in the Hungarian patient population. On the other hand, 5 of the 7 mRNA biomarkers were present at signifi- cantly higher levels in saliva samples of OSCC patients when compared to young control patients. The best biomarker com- bination could distinguish only the OSCC vs. young control patients, but not the OSCC vs. age-matched control patients. In conclusion, the significant differences between our results and previous studies, and the clinical characteristics of the patients suggest that inflammatory processes in the oral cavity may affect the performance of the 7 putative salivary mRNA biomarkers. Lastly, since IL6 mRNA was quantifiable in the majority of OSCC cases, but only in a few control samples, salivary IL6 mRNA may be utilized as part of a biomarker combination to detect OSCC. Keywords OSCC . Saliva mRNA . Biomarker . Saliva based diagnostics . qPCR Introduction During the past decade, saliva has emerged as a promis- ing diagnostic material in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), and the number of studies investigating the di- agnostic value of salivary proteins, nucleic acids or me- tabolites is increasing (recently reviewed by Guerra EN et al.) [1]. In contrast to pessimistic expectations that RNA molecules are quickly degraded by salivary ribonu- cleases, mRNAs and microRNAs proved to be readily detectable and potential analytes for salivary diagnostics. More than 3000 mRNA species were identified in the saliva of healthy individuals, and over 1600 mRNAs were expressed differently in the saliva of patients with OSCC and healthy controls [2, 3]. A persisting problem of the salivary diagnostics of OSCC is that the specificity Ildikó Márton and Beáta Scholtz contributed equally to the present study. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-017-0296-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Beáta Scholtz scholtz@med.unideb.hu 1 Genomic Medicine and Bioinformatic Core Facility, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary 2 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary 3 Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary 4 Department of Oral Pathology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary 5 Institute of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary 6 Department of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary Pathol. Oncol. Res. DOI 10.1007/s12253-017-0296-1