Comparative Analysis of TP53-Mutated Tumor DNA in Saliva and Plasma of Patients with Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Liquid biopsy offers a promising noninvasive alternative for tissue sampling in solid cancers. Saliva, an easily accessible biofluid, can harbor tumor DNA, yet its clinical utility compared with plasma circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remains uncertain. Tumor samples from patients with HNSCC underwent next-generation sequencing to identify TP53 mutations. Matched plasma and saliva cell-free DNA (cfDNA) samples were analyzed for the presence of tumor-specific mutations.