Oral Microbes Linked to 3-Fold Increased Risk of Pancreatic Cancer

Summary

Among the hundreds of species of bacteria and fungi that live in people’s mouths, 27 have been collectively tied to a 3.5 times greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer, a study led by NYU Langone Health and its Perlmutter Cancer Center shows. Experts have long observed that those with poor oral health are more vulnerable to pancreatic cancer than those with healthier mouths. More recently, scientists have uncovered a mechanism that could help explain this connection, finding that bacteria can travel through swallowed saliva into the pancreas, an organ that helps with digestion. However, precisely which species may contribute to the condition had until now remained unclear. Published online September 18 in JAMA Oncology, the new analysis assessed the genetic makeup of microbes collected from the saliva of 122,000 healthy men and women. “Our findings provide new insight into the relationship between the oral microbiome and pancreatic cancer,” said study lead author Yixuan Meng, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. The oral microbiome, the diverse community of bacteria and fungi that inhabit the mouth, is increasingly being studied for its potential role in human health. Last year, the same team of scientists uncovered a link between certain oral bacteria and a heightened risk of developing head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, a group of cancers that arise in the mouth and throat. The researchers had also conducted a small study in 2016 that tied microbes living in the mouth to pancreatic cancer, but could not identify precise bacterial species. Their latest report is the largest and most detailed analysis of its kind to date, says Dr. Meng. It is also the first to show that oral fungi—namely a type of yeast in the genus Candida that naturally lives on the skin and throughout the body—may play a role in pancreatic cancer. The researchers also identified these oral Candida species in patients’ pancr...