Differential Expression of Salivary Transcriptomic Biomarkers SAT1 and PSMB2 in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A...

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is the most common underdiagnosed metabolic disease due to lack of recognizable symptoms in the early phase. T2DM often goes undetected for years, leading to high rates of complications and mortality. RNA signatures in saliva could serve as valid, noninvasive biomarker for the detection of T2DM with high sensitivity and specificity.

To analyze the relative gene expression of salivary transcriptomic biomarkers SAT1 and PSMB2 in individuals with T2DM.

This case-control study included two groups: age- and sex-matched T2DM patients and healthy controls, with 50 participants in each group.

Unstimulated saliva samples were collected from all participants. Relative gene expression levels of salivary transcriptomic biomarkers, such as SAT1 and PSMB2 were analyzed using real-time polymerase chain reaction. The messenger RNA expression levels and fold changes were calculated using 2-ΔΔCT method.

Student's t-test was applied to check the P value significance (P < 0.05).

The SAT1 gene was found to be downregulated by 54%, with a fold change of 0.46 in T2DM compared to controls, while PSMB2 was downregulated in T2DM when compared to healthy controls. Among the two biomarkers, PSMB2 showed a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05), whereas SAT1 did not attain statistical significance.

Our study demonstrated that analysis of the genetic expression of salivary transcriptomic biomarkers SAT1 and PSMB2 genes in the saliva of T2DM patients might help in the development of a noninvasive early diagnostic aid to facilitate early intervention of T2DM.