Salivary Proteome Role in Infection and Immunity

This chapter is a comprehensive overview of the role of the salivary proteome in infection and immunity. It emphasizes saliva's multifaceted nature, highlighting its composition, functions, and origin from major and minor salivary glands. The dynamic nature of the salivary proteome is explored, emphasizing its complexity and the challenges in its analysis due to factors like high dynamic range and proteolytic activity. We underscore saliva's significance in oral and systemic health, detailing its role in maintaining oral homeostasis, its connection to systemic diseases, and its potential as a diagnostic tool. Advancements in salivary proteomic technologies, particularly mass spectrometry, are discussed, along with their applications in research and clinical settings for diagnostics, biomarker discovery, and therapeutic monitoring. The review also delves into the salivary proteome's role in the immune system, focusing on its innate and adaptive components, antimicrobial peptides, immunoglobulins, and immune response biomarkers. It further explores the connection between the salivary proteome and various oral and systemic diseases, highlighting its potential for noninvasive diagnostics and personalized medicine, including the novel knowledge database salivaryproteome.org . Finally, by summarizing key findings and emphasizing the promising future of salivary proteomics in healthcare dentistry and medicine, while also acknowledging challenges such as standardization and validation. Overall, our review thoroughly explores the salivary proteome's significance in understanding health and disease, its potential for clinical applications, and the ongoing advancements in this field.