Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Dental Research, JAMA, Microbiome, NYU, Pancreatic / 13.10.2025
NYU Study Finds Association Between Pancreatic Cancer and Oral Microbiome
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jiyoung Ahn, PhD
Professor of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Associate Director for Population Science, NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center
NYU Langone Health
New York, NY 10016
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: About 10 years ago. we reported that people with poor oral health seem to have a greater risk of pancreatic cancer development. We suspected that this could be due to oral microbiota. More recently, animal studies, by other groups, showed that bacteria from the mouth can actually travel through saliva into the pancreas. But we didn’t know which exact species of bacteria or fungi might be involved in pancreas cancer development. We therefore conducted this large human study to examine the oral microbiome — including whole bacteria and fungi profiles in the mouth, and to see which bacteria and fungal taxa are associated with subsequent risk of pancreatic cancer development.
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