Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39237889›Full record

SynthesisBMC oral health2024

The relationship between salivary cytokines and oral cancer and their diagnostic capability for oral cancer: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Lijun Huang, Fen Luo, Mingsi Deng, Jie Zhang

Abstract readSystematic ReviewNetwork Meta-Analysis
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC oral health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Review
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Review
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Saliva-based molecular diagnostics in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC): a non-invasive frontier in oncology.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2025
    Review
  11. Article
  12. Mono- and Co-Culture Biofilms of Candida auris or Candida albicans With Staphylococcus aureus Regulate Cell Viability and Pro-Inflammatory Cytokine Expression Differently in Oral Cancer Cell Lines.Journal of oral pathology & medicine : official publication of the International Association of Oral Pathologists and the American Academy of Oral Pathology · 2025
    Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Lijun HuangDepartment of Orthodontics, Changsha Stomatological Hospital, Changsha Hunan, 410006, China.
Fen LuoDepartment of Orthodontics, Changsha Stomatological Hospital, Changsha Hunan, 410006, China.
Mingsi DengDepartment of Orthodontics, Changsha Stomatological Hospital, Changsha Hunan, 410006, China.
Jie ZhangDepartment of Orthodontics, Changsha Stomatological Hospital, Changsha Hunan, 410006, China. 305966738@qq.com.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOral cancer (OC) is a common malignancy in clinical practice. Saliva testing is a convenient and noninvasive early diagnostic technique for OC. Several salivary cytokines have been identified as potential biomarkers for OC, including IL-8, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-10. Nonetheless, the optimal cytokine for OC diagnosis remains inconclusive and highly contentious.

methodsPubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases were comprehensively retrieved to collect all case-control studies on OC. A meta-analysis was performed to compare the levels of salivary IL-8, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, and IL-1β in OC patients and healthy controls. Network meta-analysis (NMA) was carried out to probe into the accuracy of these salivary cytokines in diagnosing OC.

resultsThis analysis included 40 studies, encompassing 1280 individuals with OC and 1254 healthy controls. Significantly higher levels of salivary IL-8, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-10 were observed in patients with OC in comparison to healthy controls. The results of NMA showed that TNF-α had the highest diagnostic accuracy for OC, with a sensitivity of 79% and a specificity of 92%, followed by IL-6 (sensitivity: 75%, specificity: 86%) and IL-8 (sensitivity: 80%, specificity: 80%).

conclusionThis study suggests that IL-8, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, and IL-1β may be potential diagnostic biomarkers for OC. Among them, TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8 are highly accurate in the diagnosis of OC. Nevertheless, further studies that eliminate other confounding factors are warranted, and more standardized procedures and large-scale studies are needed to support the clinical use of saliva testing.

Indexed as

Biomarkers, TumorCytokinesMouth NeoplasmsSalivaHumansInterleukin-10Interleukin-6Biomarkers, TumorCytokinesInterleukin-10Interleukin-6BiomarkersCytokinesNetwork meta-analysisOral cancerSaliva

Identifiers

PMID39237889
PMCPMC11378403

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.