{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T05:06:03Z","timestamp":1780549563631,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780531200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Oral cancer poses a significant global health challenge due to delayed intervention and a lack of effective early screening methods. About two-thirds of patients are diagnosed with advanced-stage at initial consultation. Tumor-associated bacteria are implicated in tissue carcinogenesis and have potential as diagnostic biomarkers.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In this pilot study, 24 patients with tongue squamous cell carcinoma were enrolled. Saliva samples were collected from all participants before treatment. Cancer and para-carcinoma tissues were surgically obtained from 20 patients. Bacterial exosomes were extracted, and 16S rRNA sequencing was performed to characterize the microbial composition of saliva, cancer, and para-carcinoma tissue.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The microbial composition of cancer tissues, para-carcinoma tissues, and saliva from cancer patients showed significant differences compared to healthy individuals. Specifically,\n                      <jats:italic>acinetobacter calcoaceticus, dietzia natronolimnaea, burkholderia cepacia, and acinetobacter baumannii<\/jats:italic>\n                      were highly prevalent in cancer tissues but nearly absent in healthy individuals\u2019 tissue. These microorganisms show promise as biomarkers for oral cancer. Additionally,\n                      <jats:italic>weissella cibaria, sphingomonas azotifigens<\/jats:italic>\n                      , and\n                      <jats:italic>aeromonas sobria<\/jats:italic>\n                      were more abundant in the saliva of TSCC patients compared to healthy individuals, highlighting their potential as non-invasive screening tools.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This exploratory study identified microbial strains that are enriched in oral cancer tissues and saliva, highlighting their potential as non-invasive biomarker candidates for early detection. However, given the reliance on external healthy controls and limited sample size, these findings should be considered preliminary and require validation in future prospective studies with rigorously matched controls.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2026.1817840","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T04:35:06Z","timestamp":1780547706000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Tongue cancer microbial biomarkers: landscape of saliva, cancer tissue, and para-carcinoma tissue"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Shuai","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Department of Head and Neck Oncology Surgery, National Center for Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lei","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Stomatology, The Second People's Hospital of Tibet Autonomous Region","place":["Lhasa, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bowen","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Department of Head and Neck Oncology Surgery, National Center for Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaobo","family":"Dai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Department of Head and Neck Oncology Surgery, National Center for Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chunjie","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Department of Head and Neck Oncology Surgery, National Center for Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bing","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Department of Head and Neck Oncology Surgery, National Center for Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","volume-title":"Cancer Facts and Figures 2024","year":"2024"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3305","DOI":"10.1200\/JCO.2015.62.0963","article-title":"Current treatment options for recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","volume":"33","author":"Sacco","year":"2015","journal-title":"J Clin Oncol"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"242","DOI":"10.1038\/s41392-020-00359-5","article-title":"Exosome-mediated metabolic reprogramming: the emerging role in tumor microenvironment remodeling and its influence on cancer progression","volume":"5","author":"Yang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Signal Transduct Target Ther"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2166700","DOI":"10.1080\/19490976.2023.2166700","article-title":"Microbiome and spatially 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