Member-only story
Health
Could Cancer Spread be Driven by a Common Mouth Microbe?
An ordinary bacterium can trigger changes in some primary tumors that lead to dangerous metastasis.
Cancer can be frightening, in large part because of its potential to metastasize (spread to distant sites of the body). Metastases are associated with approximately nine out of every 10 deaths from cancer. Enter a new player: a common bacterium known as Fusobacterium nucleatum. Could this so-called harmless bacterium be a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
Let’s look at this microbe. F. nucleatum typically normally lives harmlessly in the gums of our mouths. In healthy individuals, this microbe serves as a helpful member of our microbial community. Now, it is being exposed as a potential villain; the bacterium may play a role in the spread of some cancer. Examples of malignancy include colon, esophagus, pancreas, and possibly breast cancer.
In its normal and more quiecent mode, the bacterium resides in the mouth. But, if you have poor dental hygiene or uncontrolled diabetes, the microbe can show its bad side. It can cause inflammation of the gums, tonsils, or the appendix. Now it gets even more interesting: The microbe can travel in our bloodstreams.
