ABSTRACT: Human saliva has been commonly used as protein source in in vitro microbiological and biological assays to mimic the protein pellicle formation, termed acquired salivary pellicle, that precedes microbial and cell adhesion on surfaces exposed to the oral environment. However, saliva requires previous processing to remove food debris, microorganisms, and other molecules prior its use in microbiological and biological in vitro assays. For this purpose, 0.22 μm filtration, 0.45 μm filtration, and pasteurization methods have been commonly used, but the effect of these processing methods on the proteomic profile of saliva has not been tested experimentally. Stimulated human saliva was collected from 8 healthy volunteers and submitted to the following processes: non-processing (control), 0.22 μm filtration, 0.45 μm filtration, and pasteurization. The proteomic profile of non-processed saliva was compared with 0.22 μm filtered-, 0.45 μm filtered-, and pasteurized-saliva by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The effect of processed saliva in microbial adhesion was tested using bacterial and fungus species, and in biological cell behavior using HaCaT immortalized human keratinocytes. Two hundred seventy-eight proteins were identified in non-processed saliva, 54 proteins (≈19%) were exclusive. Saliva processing reduced identified proteins to 222 (≈80%) for the 0.22 μm filtered saliva, 219 (≈79%) for the 0.45 μm filtered saliva, and 201 (≈72%) for the pasteurized saliva, compared to non-processed saliva. Although there were slight differences in the protein composition, the proteomic profile showed similar molecular functions and biological processes. The different saliva processing methods did not alter microbial adhesion (ANOVA, p>0.05). Interestingly, pasteurized saliva reduced keratinocytes cell viability. Saliva processing methods tested reduced the proteomic profile diversity of saliva, but maintained similar molecular functions and biological processes mediated by remaining proteins, not interfering on microbial adhesion and cell viability, except for pasteurization, which reduced cell viability.