Salivary biomarkers associated with the progression of disease in people living with HIV: A scoping review protocol

Background: Biomarkers are measurable indicators of normal biological processes, which provide an objective assessment of the physiologic state of living systems. Saliva contains several biomarkers that serve as a diagnostic tool in health and disease. Evaluation of a multitude of salivary components could potentially predict the clinical outcome. This is especially critical in a chronic, potentially life-threatening condition like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Scrupulous evaluation of relevant biomarkers could facilitate the early detection of HIV, determine the stage of infection and monitor the disease progression. Currently, there is a paucity of validated biomarkers in saliva predicting the disease progression in people living with HIV. In this scoping review, we aim to provide an overview of the available evidence on salivary markers associated with the progression of disease in people living with HIV. Methods: The authors shall develop a tailored search strategy for each database using relevant keywords. We will search for eligible studies indexed in the following databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and gray literature. We will restrict the search to studies published in the English language. Following deduplication, all search results will be exported to the EPPI reviewer web, where two independent reviewers using a data extraction tool developed and pretested by the review authors will screen eligible studies. The result of this review will be reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist and reporting guidelines. Discussion: The proposed scoping review protocol will enable the identification and assessment of salivary biomarkers, which can predict disease progression in patients with HIV infection. The synthesis of evidence from this review will assist in improving our current understanding of biomarkers used to evaluate the progression of HIV infection.