Mouth microbes could help detect stomach and bowel cancers, study suggests
By Health Correspondent
A simple mouth rinse could one day help detect signs of stomach and bowel cancer, according to new research.
Scientists at Yonsei University in Seoul found that patterns in microbes found in the mouth and gut differ in people with gastric and colorectal cancer.
The findings could eventually lead to less-invasive ways of detecting gastrointestinal cancers.
The researchers studied 507 people, including healthy volunteers and patients with metabolic disorders, stomach cancer and colorectal cancer. They analysed samples taken from both the mouth and stool, looking at how closely the microbes in each were linked.
People with stomach or colorectal cancer had significantly higher levels of shared mouth-and-gut microbes than healthy participants. The same pattern was not seen in people with metabolic disorders.
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The researchers also found that cancer-related signals could be detected using oral samples alone. When compared with a standard faecal occult blood test used for colorectal cancer screening, the oral samples showed higher sensitivity.
“It was notable that cancer-related information could be recovered from oral samples alone,” said Yong Chan Lee of Yonsei University College of Medicine.
Lead author Jihyun F. Kim said the team had been interested in whether microbes from the mouth might reach and persist in the gut differently in people with cancer.
The researchers are now planning larger studies involving people who have not already been diagnosed with cancer.
They will also investigate whether changes in mouth and gut microbes contribute to cancer, or whether cancer itself creates conditions that allow certain oral bacteria to persist in the gut.
Tae Il Kim of Yonsei University College of Medicine stressed that the findings are still at an early stage: “Before any of this could be used in practice, it would need to go through clinical studies in real screening populations.”
If the results are confirmed, the researchers say an oral-rinse test could eventually provide a simple, non-invasive way to identify people who may need further investigation, such as an endoscopy or colonoscopy.
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