NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Certain bacteria in the mouth are associated with increased or decreased risk of esophageal cancers, researchers say.
Recent evidence suggests that upper digestive tract microbiota may play a role in esophageal cancer, but no studies have prospectively examined whether these microbiota influence risk for subsequent disease, note Dr. Jiyoung Ahn of NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center in New York City and colleagues.
To investigate, the team analyzed data from two large U.S. studies involving more than 120,000 men and women ages 50 to 75 who were considered healthy and cancer-free at enrollment and whose oral bacteria were sampled at baseline.
As reported online December 1 in Cancer Research, a total of 106 participants across the cohorts developed an esophageal cancer. Their oral samples were compared with those from matched control subjects who remained cancer-free.
Presence of the periodontal pathogen Tannerella forsythia was associated with a 21% higher risk of esophageal cancer. Furthermore, depletion of Neisseria and Streptococcus pneumoniae was associated with up to a 24% lower risk, as was bacterial biosynthesis of carotenoids.
High concentrations of the periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis trended with higher risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
“Overall, our findings have potential implications for the early detection and prevention of esophageal cancer and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma,” the authors conclude.
Looking ahead, Dr. Ahn told Reuters Health, “We have plans to analyze the main biological functions of some bacteria in the mouth to see how these metabolic pathways may influence cancer risk.”
“Further studies are planned to look at fungi and various viruses in the mouth, to see if they also may influence who does and does not get esophageal cancer,” she said by email.
“If these findings are replicated in other studies,” she added, “they may lead (to) the development of an esophagus cancer early detection tool.”
Dr. Nina Salama, a microbiologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, told Reuters Health, “The study is well done in terms of methodology,” but the conclusions that can be drawn are “limited.”
“As the authors point out, while organisms previously implicated in periodontal disease were associated with esophageal cancer, they did not control for the presence of periodontal disease, which in other studies has been associated with esophageal cancer,” she said by email. “Thus, whether the association . . . would be seen independent of periodontal disease is not clear.”
“This study is the largest one to date in this area and shows some hints of a role for the microbiome in promoting these cancers,” she added. “Thus, I think it provides a good rationale for further studies in this area.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2zLUrvS
Cancer Res 2017.
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