Salivary and plasmatic levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha do not correlate with the clinicopathological profile in breast cancer patients

Herein, we evaluated the salivary and plasmatic levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in women diagnosed with breast cancer (BC; n = 20) versus women with benign breast conditions (Control; n = 29) and correlated the TNF-alpha findings with BC clinicopathological parameters. TNF-alpha was higher in the saliva samples from both groups than in plasma levels. BC and Control patients presented similar plasmatic and salivary values of TNF-alpha. The salivary and plasmatic values of INF-alpha did not correlate with tumor features (estrogen receptor; progestogen receptor; Ki67, and HER2), indicating that its salivary content does not correlate with the parameters of disease prognosis. Therefore, TNF-alpha is not helpful as a salivary marker in breast cancer patients.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the levels of TNF-alpha in the saliva and plasma of breast cancer and benign breast disease patients, finding higher levels in saliva than in plasma. However, these levels did not correlate with tumor features, indicating that TNF-alpha is not a useful salivary marker for breast cancer patients.