Abstract
BACKGROUND: Salivary gland tumors, a prevalent type of head and neck neoplasm, exhibit significant morphological diversity and overlapping features, complicating pathological diagnosis. Although fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is widely used for tumor detection, its diagnostic utility in salivary gland tumors remains unclear. This study aimed to explore a novel FISH-based approach to differentiate benign from malignant salivary gland tumors. METHODS: Gene probes (CSP3, CSP7, and GSP P16) were designed to detect P16 gene deletion, and polysomies of chromosomes 3 and 7. The FISH analysis was conducted on 22 malignant and 12 benign salivary gland tumor samples with complete clinical data. The study was expanded to 78 samples for further validation. RESULTS: The CSP3, CSP7, and GSP P16 probes exhibited high specificity for salivary gland tumors, though CSP7 exhibited lower sensitivity. The combination of CSP3 and GSP P16 probes outperformed single-probe analysis or other probe combinations. CONCLUSION: The CSP3 and GSP P16 probe combination provides a highly sensitive and specific method for distinguishing malignant from benign salivary gland tumors.