Liang HJ, Tan XY, Li D, Lin C, Huang SY, Nie GC, Guo XF, Zhang ZB, Zhu XN, Tan SK. New advances in oral microbiology and tumor research. World J Clin Oncol 2025; 16(7): 106981 [DOI: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i7.106981]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Xiao-Nian Zhu, MD, Professor, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Exposomics and Entire Lifecycle Health, Guilin Medical University, No. 1 Zhiyuan Road, Guilin 541199, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. zhuxiaonian0403@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Oncol. Jul 24, 2025; 16(7): 106981 Published online Jul 24, 2025. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i7.106981
New advances in oral microbiology and tumor research
Hong-Jun Liang, Xian-Yi Tan, Di Li, Cheng Lin, Suo-Yi Huang, Guo-Chao Nie, Xue-Feng Guo, Zheng-Bao Zhang, Xiao-Nian Zhu, Sheng-Kui Tan
Hong-Jun Liang, Xian-Yi Tan, Di Li, Xue-Feng Guo, Zheng-Bao Zhang, Xiao-Nian Zhu, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Exposomics and Entire Lifecycle Health, Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541199, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Cheng Lin, Suo-Yi Huang, Sheng-Kui Tan, Guangxi Clinical Medical Research Center for Hepatobiliary Diseases, Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities, Baise 533000, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Guo-Chao Nie, Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Lab of Complex System Optimization and Big Data Processing, Yulin Normal University, Yulin 537000, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Co-first authors: Hong-Jun Liang and Xian-Yi Tan.
Co-corresponding authors: Xiao-Nian Zhu and Sheng-Kui Tan.
Author contributions: Liang HJ and Tan XY contribute equally to this study as co-first authors; Zhu XN and Tan SK contribute equally to this study as co-corresponding authors; Liang HJ, Tan XY, Zhu XN, and Tan SK conceived, designed, and wrote the original draft; Li D, and Lin C contributed to data analysis and figure preparation; Huang SY, Nie GC, Guo XF, and Zhang ZB assisted with the literature review and synthesis; all the authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Key Science and Technology Research and Development Program Project of Guangxi, No. GuikeAB22035017, and No. GuikeAB25069071.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Nian Zhu, MD, Professor, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Exposomics and Entire Lifecycle Health, Guilin Medical University, No. 1 Zhiyuan Road, Guilin 541199, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. zhuxiaonian0403@163.com
Received: March 13, 2025 Revised: April 14, 2025 Accepted: June 5, 2025 Published online: July 24, 2025 Processing time: 132 Days and 8.1 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This review synthesizes recent progress in understanding the complex interactions between the oral microbiota and various cancers, particularly oral squamous cell carcinoma, esophageal adenocarcinoma, and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. It highlights the roles of pathogenic bacteria such as Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum in promoting tumor progression through chronic inflammation, metabolic toxin production, and immune evasion. The review also explores innovative therapeutic strategies, including probiotics, oral microbiota transplantation, and CRISPR-based bacterial editing, while emphasizing the potential of saliva-based microbial biomarkers for non-invasive cancer screening. This work aims to translate microbial-related research into clinical applications, with the goal of mitigating the global cancer burden through early diagnosis and microbiome-targeted therapy.
