• Posted August 4, 2025

A Saliva-Based Test for Breast Cancer Might Be Near

In a small new study, a handheld saliva-sampling device successfully detected breast cancer 100% of the time, researchers said. 

The study only involved 29 saliva samples, and more research is needed. 

However, the results remain “very exciting because this device could improve access to breast cancer screening and significantly reduce health care costs,” said study co-author Dr. Coy Heldermon, a breast oncologist at University of Florida Health in Gainesville.

“If all holds true, it would be a game-changer,” he said in a university news release. 

Access to screening remains a barrier to spotting breast cancers early, when they are most amenable to treatment. 

The American Cancer Society currently recommends that average-risk women get their first mammogram at age 40, and an MRI if they have specific risk factors, such as a family history of the disease.

Of course, mammograms can be uncomfortable and require appointments. That’s something study senior author Dr. Josephine Esquivel-Upshaw understands all too well: Her mother died of breast cancer, and she herself is at high risk for the disease. 

Esquivel-Upshaw gets a mammogram and breast MRI scan every six months. “It’s a hassle and it can be discouraging,” she said. “I would much rather give a simple saliva sample at home that would inform the next steps in screening.”

So, the Florida team is creating a device that does just that. 

It’s a “biosensor” that measures specific breast cancer biomarkers hidden in saliva. 

In their latest work, “we were able to shrink the sensor platform so it fits in the palm of your hand, which was our whole drive: to make this accessible and portable for patients to be able to use,” Esquivel-Upshaw said. 

“The portable design means it’s a promising alternative for breast cancer detection and monitoring, particularly in rural communities,” she added. 

The technology was designed in a collaboration with Yu-Te Liao, a professor in electrical engineering at the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. 

Scientists at the University of Florida and their Taiwanese partners created a high-tech circuit board that contains “multi-channel test strips,” designed to detect a number of biomarkers in saliva that are unique to breast cancers. 

Patient saliva is collected in a sterile cup, and the device’s test strip is immersed in the sample for about three seconds, the researchers explained. 

The strip is then inserted into the strip connector on the device’s circuit board.  

Using a special app, the test results can be available in real time. 

In the small study involving 29 saliva samples, the biosensor was 100% accurate in spotting people who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. 

It correctly identified those who did not have the disease 86% of the time, the researchers said.

They think the device might be used initially to see if a person needs to be referred to follow-up, such as a mammogram.

“You send in some spit or better yet have the sensor sent to you, it does the measurement and if it’s positive, you get sent for additional testing,” Heldemon explained in the news release. “That is so much more practical and would have so much better uptake among patients.”

Next steps? The team, which already has patents on the device, says it is busy testing other saliva biomarkers, to zero in on which combo of biomarkers might best predict breast cancer.  

It’s possible that the technology might someday help spot a range of diseases, not only breast cancer, they said. 

The study was published recently in the journal Biosensors.

More information

There’s more information on breast cancer diagnosis at the Mayo Clinic. 

SOURCE: University of Florida, news release, Aug. 1, 2025