Method of diagnosing and monitoring malignant breast carcinomas

A post-operative method of monitoring the inhibition of breast tumor growth, said method comprising:

• providing a human test subject, said subject post-operative to the removal of a malignant tumor;
• providing a salivary secretion specimen from said subject to develop a post-operative total protein and salivary secretion soluble protein biomarker panel, said panel having constituents selected from the group consisting of cancer antigen 15-3, tumor suppressor oncogene protein 53, oncogene c-erbB-2 and combinations thereof;
• using said post-operative and salivary secretion soluble protein biomarker panel to compare with a pre-operative reference panel for said subject;
• and
• determining the post-operative inhibition of breast malignancy by monitoring at least one said salivary secretion soluble biomarker.

A method of using the concentration of an endogenously encoded protein to diagnose carcinoma of the breast, said method comprising:

• providing a salivary secretion specimen from a human test subject to provide an individual protein biomarker diagnostic for carcinoma of the breast, said biomarker in said salivary secretion and selected from the group consisting of cancer antigen 15-3, tumor suppressor oncogene protein 53, oncogene c-erbB-2 and combinations thereof;
• using said salivary secretion and said individual protein biomarker to compare with a reference protein concentration;
• and
• determining an elevated concentration of said individual protein biomarker over said reference protein to diagnose said subject, said determination eliminating effect on said protein concentration by the estrous cycle of said human test subject.

A method of using salivary secretion to differentially diagnose carcinoma of the breast in a human test subject, said method comprising:

• providing a saliva specimen from a human test subject, said specimen including salivary secretion from the saliva glands of the test subject;
• analyzing said salivary secretion for the presence of a protein biomarker for breast carcinoma soluble in said salivary secretion, said presence having an associated salivary concentration absent cellular contribution, and determining said salivary secretion concentration, said biomarker selected from the group consisting of cancer antigen 15-3, tumor suppressor oncogene protein 53, oncogene c-erbB-2 and combinations thereof;
• and
• using said salivary secretion concentration to differentially diagnose said human subject, said concentration evaluated against a predetermined mean value for each of a plurality of diagnoses, each said mean value statistically relevant for said diagnosis, said diagnosis differentiated at a statistically significant confidence level, wherein said diagnosis differentiates a malignant tumor from a benign tumor.