A team at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy reports that a mouth-dwelling bacterium tied to periodontal disease could help set breast cancer in motion and make it more aggressive. In their experiments, the microbe appeared to injure DNA and push breast cells toward behaviors linked with cancer growth and spread.
The work, published in Cell Communication and Signaling, focuses on Fusobacterium nucleatum. This bacterium has previously been associated with colorectal and other cancers, and the new study suggests it may also reach the breast. The researchers found evidence that it can enter the bloodstream, settle in breast tissue, and spark inflammation along with other changes that can precede cancer.
Dipali Sharma, Ph.D., a professor of oncology and a John Fetting Fund for Breast Cancer Prevention investigator, led the study. Her team observed that the bacterium sped up tumor growth and made it easier for cancer cells to spread from the breast to the lung in animal models designed to mimic human breast cancer.
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