Could Bacterial Dysbiosis in the Oral Microbiota be Useful for the Diagnosis of Oral Cavity Cancer?

Oral cavity cancer is a multifactorial major health problem worldwide. Oral microbiota is the second most abundant microbiota whose role in the development of oral cavity cancer has not been enlightened yet. Aim of this study was to analyze the alterations in the oral microbiota in oral cavity cancer patients compared to healthy controls.Ten patients with primary oral cavity cancer and 12 healthy controls were included in this study. DNA was extracted from saliva samples and sequencing was performed by targeting V3-V4 gene regions of 16S rRNA on iSeq 100 instrument. All statistical analysis was performed using R.While levels of Proteobacteria decreased, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Fusobacteria increased in the cancer patients. Also, abundances of Aggregatibacter, Haemophilus, Neisseria decreased, Fusobacteria, Lactobacillus and Gemella elevated. C.durum, L.umeaens, N.subflava, A.massiliensis, V.dispar species depleted, G.haemolysans enriched in the cancer(p<0.05). P.gingivalis and F.nucleatum levels increased 6.5 and 2.8 times, respectively, but A.actinomycetemcomitans decreased 0.65 times during cancer(p>0.05).Significant changes were observed in the oral microbiota of cancer patients compared to healthy controls, indicating the biomarker potential of oral microbiota in the diagnosis of these cancers.