Bacteria that fights head and neck cancer identified by researchers

Fusobacterium is usually associated with the progression of bowel cancer. However, research published in Cancer Communications showed that in the most common type of head and neck cancer, Fusobacterium, does the opposite. The bacteria destroyed tumour cells and could act as a biomarker for how patients will react to treatment.

Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer globally, and around 1,000 people in the UK are diagnosed every month. Survival rates widely vary, depending on how far the cancer has spread at the time of diagnosis. There have been few therapeutic advances in the last 20 years.

Through international collaboration, the team of researchers led by Miguel Reis Ferreira, consultant in head and neck cancers at Guy’s and St Thomas’, found that head and neck cancer patients harbouring higher levels of Fusobacterium (commonly found in the mouth) consistently had a better prognosis, than those with lower levels of the bacteria.