Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download

DT Middle East and Africa

LONDON, UK/LOS ANGELES, US:Particulartypesoforalbac- teria, some of which are found in gum disease, are associated with the development of pan- creatic cancer, a study pub- lished in the British journal Gut has reported. Ac- cordingtotheUS-Americanre- searchers who conducted the study, the finding might make it possible to halt the progress of one of the most difficult can- cers to treat by altering the bal- ance of bacteria. Pancreatic cancer usually spreads very quickly,andonlyaroundonein 20 patients is still alive five years after the diagnosis. The researchers suggest that levels of certain bacteria could beusedasanon-invasiveandac- curate screening test for pancre- atic cancer, with the promise of earlier detection for a disease that has no clear symptoms in its early stages. The study findings are based on an initial comparison of the bacteria found in the saliva of ten patients with pancreatic cancer that had not yet spread and ten healthy people, matched for age and sex. They found significant differences between the bacter- ial colonies in the two groups, with 31 additional species and 25 fewer species found in the saliva of the cancer patients compared with the control patients. The researchers checked saliva samples from a further 28 pancreatic cancer patients and 28 healthy people to verify their findings. Furthermore, they ex- amined saliva samples from 28 patients with chronic inflamma- tion of the pancreas (chronic pancreatitis), which is associ- ated with an increased risk of de- veloping pancreatic cancer. Amongst six suspicious species, two (Neisseria elongata and Streptococcus mitis) ap- peared significantly less often in themouthsofthecancerpatients than in those of their healthy peers, and levels of Granuli- catella adiacens (another species) were significantly higher. The combination of N. elon- gata and S. mitis accurately dif- ferentiated between healthy pa- tients and those with cancer in more than 80 per cent of cases. Furthermore, the research team found similar differences in the prevalence of S. mitis and G. adi- acens between the chronic pan- creatitissamplesandthesalivaof healthy people. It is not yet clear whether the presence of particu- lar types of bacteria is a cause or effectofpancreaticcancer,theau- thors say. However, their findings corroborate previous research that has indicated that oral bacte- ria play a role in the development of pancreatic diseases. DT Certain oral bacteria could signal pancreatic cancer News & Opinions DENTALTRIBUNE Middle East & Africa Edition4