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
. 2015 Nov;51(17):2655-64.
doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2015.08.015. Epub 2015 Aug 31.

Recurrent antibiotic exposure may promote cancer formation--Another step in understanding the role of the human microbiota?

Ben Boursi  1 , Ronac Mamtani  2 , Kevin Haynes  2 , Yu-Xiao Yang  3
Affiliations

Recurrent antibiotic exposure may promote cancer formation--Another step in understanding the role of the human microbiota?

Ben Boursi et al. Eur J Cancer. 2015 Nov.

Abstract

Background: Bacterial dysbiosis was previously described in human malignancies. In a recent animal model, tumour susceptibility was transmitted using faecal transplantation. Our aim was to evaluate possible association between antibiotic exposure and cancer risk.

Methods: We conducted nested case-control studies for 15 common malignancies using a large population-based electronic medical record database. Cases were defined as those with any medical code for the specific malignancy. Individuals with familial cancer syndromes were excluded. For every case, four eligible controls matched on age, sex, practice site and duration of follow-up before index-date were selected using incidence-density sampling. Exposure of interest was antibiotic therapy >1 year before index-date. Adjusted odds-ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for each antibiotic type using conditional logistic regression.

Results: 125,441 cases and 490,510 matched controls were analysed. For gastro-intestinal malignancies, the use of penicillin was associated with an elevated risk of oesophageal, gastric and pancreatic cancers. The association increased with the number of antibiotic courses and reached 1.4 for gastric cancers associated with >5 courses of penicillin (95% CI 1.2-1.8). Lung cancer risk increased with the use of penicillin, cephalosporins, or macrolides (AOR for >5 courses of penicillin: 1.4 95% CI 1.3-1.6). The risk of prostate cancer increased modestly with the use of penicillin, quinolones, sulphonamides and tetracyclines. The risk of breast cancer was modestly associated with exposure to sulphonamides. There was no association between the use of anti-virals and anti-fungals and cancer risk.

Conclusion: Recurrent exposure to certain antibiotics may be associated with cancer risk in specific organ sites.

Keywords: Antibiotic; Breast; Cancer; Colorectal; Lung; Melanoma; Pancreas; Penicillin; Prostate; Risk factor.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement: None of the authors has any relevant conflict of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Adjusted cancer risk according to organ site as a function of number of specific antibiotic courses
Figure 1
Figure 1
Adjusted cancer risk according to organ site as a function of number of specific antibiotic courses
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Haeseker MB, Dukers-Muijrers N, Hoebe C, Bruggeman CA, Cals JW, Verbon A. Trends in antibiotic prescribing in adults in Dutch general practice. PLoS One. 2012;7(12):e51860. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dethlefsen L, Huse S, Sogin ML, Relman DA. The pervasive effects of an antibiotic on the human gut microbiota as revealed by deep 16S rRNA sequencing. PLoS Biol. 2008;6(11):e280. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jakobsson HE, Jernberg C, Andersson AF, Sjolund-Karlsson M, Jansson JK, Engstrand L. Short-term antibiotic treatment has differing long-term impacts on the human throat and gut microbiome. Plos. 2010;5:e9836. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sobhani I, Tap J, Roudot-Thoraval F, et al. Microbial dysbiosis in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Plos. 2011;6:e16393. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dulal S, Keku TO. Gut microbiome and colorectal adenomas. The Cancer Jourrnal. 2014;20(3):225–231. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances