Variations in oral microbiota associated with oral cancer

TLDR

Individual bacteria and shifts in microbiome composition are associated with human disease, including cancer. The study aims to unravel the connections between oral bacterial dysbiosis and oral squamous cell carcinoma by collecting matched cancer lesion and normal samples from the same patients. Bacterial species were profiled in OSCC lesion surface samples using next‑generation sequencing to assess community composition and functional genes. The study found significantly greater bacterial diversity and numerous taxa differences in OSCC lesions, with periodontitis‑associated taxa such as Fusobacterium and others enriched and certain Fusobacterium OTUs showing strong diagnostic potential, highlighting drastic changes in surface bacterial communities linked to oral cancer.

Abstract

Abstract Individual bacteria and shifts in microbiome composition are associated with human disease, including cancer. To unravel the connections underlying oral bacterial dysbiosis and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), cancer lesion samples and anatomically matched normal samples were obtained from the same patients. We then profiled the bacteria within OSCC lesion surface samples at the species level using next-generation sequencing to comprehensively investigate bacterial community composition and functional genes in these samples. Significantly greater bacterial diversity was observed in the cancer samples than in the normal samples. Compared with previous studies, we identified many more taxa demonstrating remarkably different distributions between the groups. In particular, a group of periodontitis-correlated taxa, including Fusobacterium, Dialister, Peptostreptococcus, Filifactor, Peptococcus, Catonella and Parvimonas , was significantly enriched in OSCC samples. Additionally, several operational taxonomic units (OTUs) associated with Fusobacterium were highly involved in OSCC and demonstrated good diagnostic power. Our study revealed drastic changes in surface bacterial communities of OSCC. The findings enrich knowledge of the association between oral bacterial communities and oral cancer.