Background Optical diagnosis is one of the upcoming methods in screening and diagnosing oral cancer at the earlier stage. Currently, DNA-based diagnosis is used along with light-based imaging methods to diagnose oral cancer rapidly.

Aim The aim of this study was to discriminate oral cancer and oral potentially malignant disorders from normal patient with fluorescence spectroscopic characterization of salivary DNA using ethidium bromide dye.

Materials and Methods A total of 40 patients with average age of 20 to 60 years in both the genders were selected and divided into three groups. Group A included clinically proven cases of oral cancer, group B1 included clinically diagnosed cases of leukoplakia, group B2 included clinically diagnosed cases of oral submucous fibrosis, and group C included controls. Salivary DNA fluorescence spectrum obtained after adding ethidium bromide was analyzed using FluoroLog spectrophotometer at 480 nm wavelength.

Results The discriminant analysis of fluorescent emission of salivary DNA shows predictive accuracy of 90% between group C and group A, 95% between group C and group B1, and 65% observed between group C and group B2.

Conclusion From this study, screening of oral cancer can be done at the earliest with the help of fluorescence spectroscopic characterization of salivary DNA. This method can be done rapidly and noninvasively.

Article published online:
22 August 2022

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