Certain bacteria's presence in the mouth may be an indicator for potential development of pancreatic cancer, the detection of which could allow for earlier and more precise treatment, according to a study presented April 19 in New Orleans at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
For the study, researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center in New York analyzed and compared bacteria collected from 361 mouthwash samples from participants who developed pancreatic cancer and 371 people of similar demographics who did not. All participants were involved with ongoing cancer-risk studies. All study participants were healthy when sample taking began. The participants were monitored for nearly a decade.
Through their analysis, researchers found that men and women whose oral microbiomes contained Porphyromonas gingivalis had a 59 percent greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer than participants whose samples did not suggest the presence of this bacterium. Also, participants with oral microbiomes containing Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans were at least 50 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.
The study's senior investigator, Jiyoung Ahn, PhD, an epidemiologist and associate professor at NYU Langone, said, "Our study offers the first direct evidence that specific changes in the microbial mix in the mouth — the oral microbiome — represent a likely risk factor for pancreatic cancer...these bacterial changes in the mouth could potentially show us who is most at risk of developing pancreatic cancer."
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