Salivary Fusobacterium nucleatum and Porphyromonas gingivalis as potential non-invasive biomarkers In colorectal cancer | ||||
| Microbes and Infectious Diseases | ||||
| Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 23 July 2025 | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/mid.2025.399654.2973 | ||||
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| Authors | ||||
Yara Safwat Roshdy 1; Walid Ibrahim Yousif2; Mohamed Adel Abd Elaziz 3; Hussein Mahmoud Saad2; Dina Aly Kholeif  4
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| 1Medical Microbiology and Immunology department, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria university, Egypt | ||||
| 2Internal medicine department, Faculty of medicine, Alexandria university, Egypt | ||||
| 3Tropical medicine department, Faculty of medicine, Alexandria university, Egypt | ||||
| 4Medical microbiology and immunology department, Faculty of medicine, Alexandria university, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Background: The oral cavity is home to a multifaceted microbiota. Growing evidence points to the potential implication of oral dysbiosis in inducing and promoting gastrointestinal cancers. Recently, Fusobacterium nucleatum (F.nucleatum) and Porphyromonas gingivalis (P.gingivalis), 2 bacteria of the oral microbiome, have been linked to colorectal cancer (CRC). Aim of the study: to compare the level of salivary F.nucleatum and P.gingivalis among CRC patients vs healthy controls, investigate their association with clinicopathological parameters and evaluate their potential as non-invasive biomarkers for the detection of CRC. Patients and methods: 40 CRC patients and 40 cancer free subjects were enrolled. CRC was diagnosed clinically, endoscopy and by radiological imaging. From all the participants, saliva samples were analyzed by real-time qPCR to detect the relative microbial load of F.nucleatum and P.gingivalis among the oral microbiome. Results: A significantly elevated level of salivary F.nucleatum and P.gingivalis was noticed among CRC patients vs controls (p=0.035, p=0.003 respectively). F.nucleatum was not significantly associated with regional lymph node or distant organ metastases, while this association was statistically significant in case of P.gingivalis (p<0.0001). ROC analysis indicated that F.nucleatum and P.gingivalis could be used for CRC detection (p=0.032, p=0.001 respectively) and that P.gingivalis may serve as predictive tool for nodal and distant metastasis (p < 0.018 and, p < 0.001 respectively). Conclusion: Overall, evident discrepancies in the salivary abundance of F. nucleatum and P. gingivalis in CRC patients and in control group were detected. Oral microbiome may have a potential diagnostic and prognostic value for the detection and progression of CRC. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| F. nucleatum; P. gingivalis; CRC | ||||
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