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. 2024 Aug;44(8):879-883.
doi: 10.1002/cac2.12588. Epub 2024 Jul 6.

Fusobacterium is toxic for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and its presence may determine a better prognosis

Anjali Chander  1   2   3 , Jacopo Iacovacci  4 , Aize Pellon  1 , Rhadika Kataria  2 , Anita Grigoriadis  2 , John Maher  2 , Cynthia Sears  5 , Gilad Bachrach  6 , Teresa Guerrero Urbano  2   3 , Mary Lei  2   3 , Imran Petkar  2   3 , Anthony Kong  2   3 , Tony Ng  2 , Ester Orlandi  7 , Nicola Alessandro Iacovelli  8 , Loris De Cecco  8 , Mara Serena Serafini  8   9 , David Moyes  1 , Tiziana Rancati  4 , Miguel Reis Ferreira  1   2   3
Affiliations

Fusobacterium is toxic for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and its presence may determine a better prognosis

Anjali Chander et al. Cancer Commun (Lond). 2024 Aug.
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Fusobacterium detectability enhances survival in HNSCC, while its presence in co‐culture is toxic for HNSCC. In the TCMA cohort, intra‐tumoral Fusobacterium detectability determines better OS (A) and DSS (B). In the MicroLearner cohort, a salivary Fusobacterium RA above the cohort median determines better PFS in the full cohort (C) and in the HPV‐neg cohort (D). (E) In 2D co‐culture, OSCC toxicity with F. nucleatum (MOI 1) and lack thereof with P. oralis (NCTC 11459, MOI 1) is reproducible in the TR146, HN5 and HSC3 cell lines. Additionally, it is reproducible with different F. nucleatum strains (ATCC 23726, ATCC 25586; MOI 1). (F) F. nucleatum and F. periodonticum cause OSCC killing at similar magnitude. (G) OSCC viability in single culture with or without the supernatant of Fnuc culture, or fresh broth (i.e., broth without Fnuc supernatant), or F. nucleatum (either alive (Fnuc) or heat‐inactivated (inFnuc)), showing that Fnuc supernatant and/or live Fnuc (i.e., producing supernatant molecules) are sufficient and necessary for OSCC toxicity. Significance levels: ns: not significant; *: P <0.05; **: P < 0.01; ***: P < 0.001; ****: P < 0.0001; ns: ###. Abbreviations: DSS, disease‐specific survival; Fnuc, F. nucleatum; Fper, F. periodonticum; HNSCC, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; inFnuc, heat‐inactivated F. nucleatum; MOI, multiplicity of infection; OS, overall survival; OSCC, oral squamous cell carcinoma; PFS, progression‐free survival.
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