Title
Salivary cathelicidin LL-37 as a non-invasive biomarker for oral cancer detection
Authors
Thaneja Ravichandran, B.G Harshavardhan, Nandhini Ganesan & K Sarswathi Gopal
Affiliation
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital, Meenakshi academy of higher education and research, Chennai Tamil Nadu, India; *Corresponding author
Thanejaravi - E-mail: thanejaravichandran@gmail.com
B.G Harshavardhan - E-mail: bgharshavardhan@yahoo.com
Nandhini Ganesan - E-mail: drnandhini.omrd@madch.edu.in
K Sarswathi Gopal - E-mail: dr.sarawathik@gmail.com
Article Type
Research Article
Date
Received June 1, 2026; Revised June 30, 2026; Accepted June 30, 2026, Published June 30, 2026
Abstract
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the predominant form of oral malignancy, with late-stage diagnosis contributing to poor prognosis. Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) often precede OSCC, underscoring the need for early diagnostic biomarkers. Hence, salivary cathelicidin LL-37 levels were quantified using ELISA in 80 participants. Participants were divided into four groups: OSCC, tobacco-associated OPMDs, non-tobacco-associated OPMDs, and healthy controls. Salivary cathelicidin LL-37 levels increased progressively from healthy controls to OSCC cases (p < 0.001) with 100% sensitivity and 90% specificity. Thus, we show that salivary LL-37 is a reliable, non-invasive biomarker for early detection and monitoring of oral carcinogenesis.
Keywords
Biomarker, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), oral potentially malignant disorder (OPMD), oral malignancy
Citation
Ravichandran et al. Bioinformation 22(6): 3421-3424 (2026)
Edited by
P Kangueane
ISSN
0973-2063
Publisher
License
This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
