This figure shows the interconnection between thousands of salivary proteins derived from plasma, parotid glands, submandibular glands and sublingual glands. This graph is one of many tools that researchers and clinicians can use through the Human Saliva Proteome Wiki.
Newswise — Buffalo, NY — To improve the development of new saliva-based diagnostic tests and personalized medicine, the National Institute of Dentistry and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) supports the development of the human saliva proteome wiki, the first catalog And classified public platform. Organize data on each of the thousands of proteins in our saliva.
In an article published in the Journal of Dental Research on Tuesday, May 25, Wiki provides researchers and clinicians with rich and unbiased evidence from multiple independent studies to help explore the dynamic and complex nature of saliva , And analysis tools for search are used to classify data by tissue type, disease, etc.
"This community-based data and knowledge base will pave the way to harness the full potential of the saliva proteome for the diagnosis, risk prediction and treatment of oral and systemic diseases, and improve preparations for emerging diseases and epidemics in the future. Said Stefan Ruhl, DDS, Ph.D., lead researcher of the study, curator of the human saliva proteome wiki, and professor of oral biology at the University of Buffalo School of Dentistry.
Saliva promotes digestion, taste, swallowing and speaking, and is the first line of defense against oral pathogens, protecting the body from harmful microorganisms. Saliva's role in immune response and its convenience as a liquid sample collection make it an ideal tool for precision medicine and non-invasive diagnosis. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was widely used to detect viruses and track the body's immune response.
However, one challenge of saliva research is the high variability of thousands of salivary proteins. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a normal range of saliva components to define health conditions. Ruhr said that in 2020, he collaborated with others to write a study on how saliva is made, tracing the origin of the protein in human saliva to its source.
"Saliva has become an attractive body fluid that can be used for on-site, remote and real-time monitoring of oral and general health. The scientific community needs a saliva-centric information platform to keep up with the rapid accumulation of new data and knowledge," the Said Dr. William Lau of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the lead author of the study.
"The Human Saliva Proteome Wiki will improve saliva science, saliva-based diagnosis, precision medicine and dentistry, and ultimately promote the personalized treatment of oral and systemic diseases," said Dr. Preethi Chander, director of the NIDCR Saliva Biology and Immunology Program.
Modernization to "utilize the full potential of the salivary proteome"
The Human Saliva Proteome Wiki, funded by NIDCR and developed in cooperation with the NIH Information Technology Center, was released in 2019 as a user-friendly public database that provides rich analysis, management, and annotation tools for the biomedical research community.
This database gathers information and research on salivary proteome, genome, transcriptome (type and level of mRNA expressed in salivary gland tissue), and carbohydrate (a series of sugars attached to sialoglycoprotein).
Users can submit suggestions for adding, deleting or modifying data to the interdisciplinary team of curators to ensure that the information is accurate and supported by reliable scientific evidence. The annotations are also attributed to the researchers and clinicians who submitted them to the wiki, helping to drive citations for key research.
Researchers will also host a series of events to bring contributors together, inspire new ideas and promote interdisciplinary collaboration.
Other researchers and curators include Dr. Markus Hardt, core principal of mass spectrometry at the Forsyth Institute; Zhang Yanhui, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Marcelo Freire, Ph.D. DDS, associate professor at the J. Craig Venter Institute.
Journal of Dental Research, May 2021
Newswise provides journalists with access to the latest news and provides a platform for universities, institutions and journalists to spread breaking news to their audiences.