Saliva protein profiling for subject identification and potential medical applications

This study delineates a protocol to obtain a set of proteins from human
saliva to distinguish objectively among individual donors. A small subset
of proteins (<10%) of those identified by mass spectrometry from
wet saliva samples allowed to discriminate among donors supporting the
notion that most of the salivary proteome is highly conserved across
subjects. Most of these discriminating proteins were involved with
immunity, tissue metabolism and regeneration. They were already identified
in other saliva proteome studies including those performed with dry saliva
samples indicating the likelihood of using wet or dry saliva samples. The
differences in the proteomes across subjects likely reflect a combination
of different lifestyle habits, environmental factors, underlying
diseases/conditions, among others, but not necessarily age. Application of
such proteomic analysis has the potential to increase substantially the
value of saliva as a source of proteins in forensic evidence.