Saliva has been used as a diagnostic material for monitoring oral diseases — e.g. dental caries, periodontal disease — and it is becoming more and more commonly used for monitoring systemic health. New promising molecular technologies within the last decade focused on salivary protein and nucleic acid analysis. In 2008, the components of salivary proteome, which included 1166 proteins, were identified and catalogued. More than 3000 types of mRNA were found in the transcriptome and e.g. new types of microRNA and lncRNA were discovered. Saliva is associated with a remarkable range of possibilities in the diagnostics of several systemic disorders, including oncological, endocrine, cardiovascular, autoimmune, neurological and infectious diseases. Non‑invasive tests used in order to determine its composition could enable early detection of a disease, which constitutes the key factor for the choice of effective therapy and better prognosis.

Key words: systemic diseases, diagnostics, marker, saliva.