In search of the altering salivary proteome in metastatic breast and ovarian cancers

Breast and ovarian cancers, the most common cancers in women in India, are expected to rise in the next decade. Metastatic organotropism is a nonrandom, predetermined process which represents a more lethal and advanced form of cancer with increased mortality rate. In an attempt to study organotropism, salivary proteins were analyzed by mass spectrometry indicative of pathophysiology of breast and ovarian cancers and were compared to healthy and ovarian chemotherapy subjects. Collectively, 646 proteins were identified, of which 409 proteins were confidently identified across all four groups. Network analysis of upregulated proteins such as coronin‐1A, hepatoma‐derived growth factor, vasodilator‐stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP), and cofilin in breast cancer and proteins like coronin‐1A, destrin, and HSP90α in ovarian cancer were functionally linked and were known to regulate cell proliferation and migration. Additionally, proteins namely VASP, coronin‐1A, stathmin, and suprabasin were confidently identified in ovarian chemotherapy subjects, possibly in response to combined paclitaxel and carboplatin drug therapy to ovarian cancer. Selected representative differentially expressed proteins (eg, gelsolin, VASP) were validated by western blot analysis. Results of this study provide a foundation for future research to better understand the organotropic behavior of breast and ovarian cancers, as well as neoadjuvant drug response in ovarian cancer.