Maintaining oral health
Maintaining good oral health could well reduce the risk of oral cancer. However, a new study has shown that this can also reduce the chance of developing esophageal cancer by establishing a link between certain periodontal pathogens and cancer. Based on the results of the study, new strategies can be developed for the early detection of these diseases.
Microbiomes and esophageal cancer
Scientists from New York University (NYU) analyzed data from two different studies and compared the oral microbiomes of participants with and without esophageal cancer. It was found that certain bacteria were significantly more prevalent in patients with the cancer. The research was published in Cancer Research in December 2017. The results indicate that it may be useful to learn more about the role of oral microbiota to potentially prevent esophageal cancer in the future, or at least to detect it earlier.
Further investigation necessary
In this field, this study is the largest ever conducted. Nevertheless, there were only a small number of samples, making it more difficult to demonstrate significant relationships. Additionally, the vast majority of the people studied were white, which may affect the applicability of the results. Further research will need to be conducted to better explore the bacteria in relation to esophageal cancer, and to determine whether they might even be a predictive factor.