Low level of antibodies to the oral bacterium Tannerella forsythia predicts bladder cancers and Treponema denticola predicts colon and bladder cancers: A prospective cohort study

PLoS One. 2022 Aug 22;17(8):e0272148. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272148. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

This study explores the risk for cancer by level of antibodies to the anaerobe oral bacteria of periodontitis Tannerella forsythia (TF), Porphyromonas gingivalis (PG), and Treponema denticola (TD) all three collectively termed the red complex, and the facultative anaerobe bacterium Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (AA). The prospective cohort, the Oslo II-study from 2000, the second screening of the Oslo study of 1972/73, has been followed for 17 ½ years with regard to cancer incidence and mortality. A random sample of 697 elderly men comprised the study cohort. The antibody results measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used in the Cox proportional hazards analyses, and quartile risk on cancer incidence in a 17 ½ years follow-up. Among the 621 participants with no prior cancer diagnoses, 221 men developed cancer. The incidence trend was inverse, and the results are shown as 1st quartile of highest value and 4th as lowest of antibody levels. The results of the Cox proportional regression analyses showed that TF inversely predicts bladder cancer (n = 22) by Hazard Ratio (HR) = 1.71 (95% CI: 1.12, 2.61). TD inversely predicts colon cancer (n = 26) by HR = 1.52 (95% CI: 1.06, 2.19) and bladder cancer (n = 22) by HR = 1.60 (95% CI: 1.05, 2.43). Antibodies to two oral bacteria, TF and TD, showed an inverse risk relationship with incidence of specific cancers: TF bladder cancer, TD bladder and colon cancer. Lowered immunological response to the oral infection, periodontitis, is shown to be a risk factor in terms of cancer aetiology.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans
  • Colonic Neoplasms*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Periodontitis* / microbiology
  • Porphyromonas gingivalis
  • Prospective Studies
  • Tannerella forsythia
  • Treponema denticola
  • Urinary Bladder Neoplasms*

Grants and funding

This study, including the second screening in 2000, Oslo II, was supported by the Norwegian Council for Cardiovascular Diseases of the Norwegian National Association for Public Health, “EXTRAStiftelsen for helse og rehabilitering” Research Health and Rehabilitation through the applicant organization National Organization for Heart and Lung Disease in Norway, the National Organization for Heart and Lung Disease, the University of Oslo in the form of a grant to LLH. Additional funding for these analyses were provided by the former EXTRA foundation for Health and Rehabilitation (EXTRAStiftelsen for helse og rehabilitering) through the applicant organization National Organization for Heart and Lung Disease in Norway in the form of a grant to LLH. This study was also supported by the European Commission in the form of a grant to IO (FP7-HEALTH-306029 ‘TRIGGER’). The National Organization for Heart and Lung Disease also provided additional financial support from their research fund. The University of Oslo also supported in part the hs-CRP analyses. The funders had no additional role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.