Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Mar 27;10(3):e1003933.
doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003933. eCollection 2014 Mar.

Oral bacteria and cancer

Affiliations
Review

Oral bacteria and cancer

Sarah E Whitmore et al. PLoS Pathog. .
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Interactions between P. gingivalis and epithelial cells that could produce an oncogenic phenotype.
Extracellular P. gingivalis secrete gingipains, which activate Protease Activated Receptor (PAR) leading to promatrix metalloprotease (MMP)-9 production, and they also convert proMMP-9 to mature MMP-9, along with nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDK), which cleaves ATP and prevents activation of the proapoptotic P2X7 receptor. Intracellular P. gingivalis activate antiapoptotic Jak-Stat signaling and inhibit expression of the p53 tumor suppressor. Additionally, Erk 1/2 and p38 are activated, which also elevates proMMP-9 expression.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Interactions between F. nucleatum and epithelial cells that could produce an oncogenic phenotype.
Binding of the FadA adhesin to E-cadherin activates β-catenin signaling, resulting in activation of genes that control cell survival and proliferation. F. nucleatum also activates several cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs) and p38, which controls the production of matrix metalloproteases MMP-9 and MMP-13.

References

    1. Kim SS, Ruiz VE, Carroll JD, Moss SF (2011) Helicobacter pylori in the pathogenesis of gastric cancer and gastric lymphoma. Cancer Lett 305: 228–238. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hajishengallis G, Lamont RJ (2012) Beyond the red complex and into more complexity: The polymicrobial synergy and dysbiosis (PSD) model of periodontal disease etiology. Mol Oral Microbiol 27: 409–419. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nagy KN, Sonkodi I, Szoke I, Nagy E, Newman HN (1998) The microflora associated with human oral carcinomas. Oral Oncol 34: 304–308. - PubMed
    1. Katz J, Onate MD, Pauley KM, Bhattacharyya I, Cha S (2011) Presence of Porphyromonas gingivalis in gingival squamous cell carcinoma. Int J Oral Sci 3: 209–215. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Michaud DS (2013) Role of bacterial infections in pancreatic cancer. Carcinogenesis 34: 2193–2197. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types