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ePaper created 2016-06-17, 09:36:23 | version 1.38.0
Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition | 3/2016 hygiene tribune 5 Assessment ofbacterialchangesin themouthcouldbeused todetermineindividualriskofdevelopingpancreatic cancer.(Photograph:pixabay/stevpb) Presence of certain oral bacteria may indicate increased pancreatic cancer risk ByDTI NEW YORK, USA: Researchers have found that the risk of developing pancreatic cancer is associated with specific bacteria in the mouth. They hope that the findings could en- able earlier and more precise treat- ment of the disease, which is one of the most common causes of cancer death in both men and women and results in more than 40,000 deaths annuallyintheU.S.alone. Other studies have shown that pan- creatic cancer patients are suscep- tible to periodontal disease, cavi- ties and poor oral health in general. Therefore, the research team at the NYU Langone Medical Center set out tosearchfordirectlinksbetweenthe makeup of bacteria driving oral dis- ease and subsequent development ofpancreaticcancer. The researchers compared bacte- rial contents in mouthwash samples from361Americanmenandwomen who had developed pancreatic can- cer with samples from 371 people of matched age, sex and ethnic origin who did not. They found that men and women whose oral microbiome included Porphyromonas gingivalis, a major contributor to periodontal disease, had an overall 59 percent greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer than those whose microbi- ome did not contain the bacterium. Similarly, people with oral micro- biomes containing Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, which has been associated with severe peri- odontitis, were at least 50 percent more likely overall to develop the disease. “Our study offers the first direct evidence that specific changes in the oral microbiome represent a likely risk factor for pancreatic cancer along with older age, male gender, smoking,African-Americanrace,and a family history of the disease,” said senior investigator and epidemiolo- gistDr.JiyoungAhn. In another study published last month, Ahn and her colleagues showed that cigarette smoking was linked to dramatic, although revers- ible, changes in the amount and mix of bacteria in the oral microbiome. However, she cautioned that fur- ther research is needed to determine whether there is any cause-and-ef- fect relationship, or how or whether such smoking-related changes alter the immune system or otherwise trigger cancer-causing activities in thepancreas. The findings were first presented on April 19 at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Re- searchinNewOrleans.