Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a malignant tumor with 640,000 new cases
annually in the world [1]. Saliva testing is non-invasive procedure that is capable to detect potential
biomarkers for OSCC. It was shown that elevated level of p53 protein was identified in OSCC patients
at different stages of the disease (ibid). Camelid antibodies containing only variable regions, nanobodies
(VHH) and single-chain variable regions (scFv) with VH and VL, are becoming popular in many
biological studies including diagnostic applications. It was identified that VL region alone showed higher
affinity to p53 than VHH, and dimerization of VL region with another one increases the affinity up
to 10 folds [2]. Camelid antibodies have similar affinity to its substrate as human antibodies and can
be conjugated to other proteins without functional lose. They can be expressed and secreted in many
organisms including E.Coli in high amount, which reduces the cost of antibodies production. Thus, the
aim of this project is to design a biosensor, based on available sequence of antibodies, to detect p53 in
saliva samples for OSCC diagnosis
