RESUMO
BACKGROUND: To demonstrate the use of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to determine sialic acid (SA) levels in saliva using silver nanoparticles as substrates, in adnexal mass patients scheduled for surgical intervention to remove invasive masses, with the aim to compare SA levels in benign tumor vs ovarian cancer patients. METHODS: Quantification of SA levels was accomplished by measuring their SERS and calibrating with analytical reagent SA. The mean SA concentration in saliva from 37 benign adnexal mass resulted smaller (5.1 mg/dL) than the mean concentration in 15 Ovarium cancer patients (23 mg/dL). The cancer condition was determined by biopsy of the removed adnexal mass. The CA-125 biomarker was also measured. The predictive potential of both biomarkers is discussed, together with the malignity risk index (MRI). RESULTS: Our results showed a sensitivity/specificity of 80%/100% with a cutoff to distinguish between benign/cancer cases of SA 15.5 mg/dL, as established from a ROC analysis. Our results suggest that SA may be a more useful biomarker than CA-125 to detect ovarian cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the SA levels measured from saliva may be as good predictors as the MRI index for the presence of ovarian cancer in sensitivity/negative predictive value and outperforms it in specificity/positive predictive value.