Blood and Salivary MicroRNAs for Diagnosis of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose: This meta-analysis aimed to compare and evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of blood and salivary microRNAs (miRNAs) in discriminating oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods: The PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were searched (updated to February 2020) to identify all articles describing the diagnostic value of blood and salivary miRNAs for OSCC. The pooled parameters were calculated using Revman (v.5.3) and STATA (v.14.0). Results: Twenty articles involving 1,106 patients and 732 controls were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of salivary miRNAs were 0.70 (95% CI: 0.63-0.77) and 0.82 (95% CI: 0.72-0.90). For blood miRNAs, they were 0.79 (95% CI: 0.73-0.84) and 0.82 (95% CI: 0.77-0.86). The areas under receiver operating characteristic curve in saliva, blood, and body fluid miRNAs were 0.80 (95% CI: 0.77-0.84), 0.88 (95% CI: 0.84-0.90), and 0.87 (95% CI: 0.84-0.90), respectively. Conclusions: The results of this meta-analysis indicate a moderate diagnostic accuracy of blood and salivary miRNAs presented for OSCC. These findings may provide less invasive and relatively reliable diagnostic tools for OSCC detection. (C) 2020 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons

Automated summary

The meta-analysis found that blood and salivary miRNAs have moderate diagnostic accuracy for oral squamous cell carcinoma. Blood miRNAs showed higher sensitivity and specificity compared to salivary miRNAs. The findings suggest that miRNAs in blood and saliva could serve as less invasive and relatively reliable diagnostic tools for detecting OSCC.