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Oral bacteria are associated with pancreatic cancer risk

Details: Published: Monday, 05 November 2012 12:32; Written by News Editor; Hits: 1352

In a new study, researchers report that people who had high levels of antibodies for an infectious oral bacterium turned out to have double the risk for developing pancreatic cancer. High antibody levels for harmless oral bacteria, meanwhile, predicted a reduced pancreatic cancer risk. The new study finds significant associations between antibodies for multiple oral bacteria and the risk of the cancer.

The study of blood samples from more than 800 European adults, published in the journal Gut, found that high antibody levels for one of the more infectious periodontal bacterium strains of Porphyromonas gingivalis were associated with a two-fold risk for pancreatic cancer. Meanwhile, study subjects with high levels of antibodies for some kinds of harmless "commensal" oral bacteria were associated with a 45-percent lower risk of pancreatic cancer.
Several researchers, including Michaud, have found previous links between periodontal disease and pancreatic cancer. The Gut paper is the first study to test whether antibodies for oral bacteria are indicators of pancreatic cancer risk and the first study to associate the immune response to commensal bacteria with pancreatic cancer risk. The physiological mechanism linking oral bacteria and pancreatic cancer remains unknown, but the study strengthens the suggestion that there is one.
"This is not an established risk factor," said Michaud, who is also co-lead author with Jacques Izard, of the Forsyth Institute and Harvard University. "But I feel more confident that there is something going on. It's something we need to understand better."

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Oral bacteria are associated with pancreatic cancer risk

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