Role of bacteria in oral carcinogenesis

Oral cancer appears to be increasing in incidence, and mortality has hardly improved over the past 25 years. Better understanding of the etiopathogenesis should lead to more accurate and earlier diagnosis and more effective treatments with fewer adverse effects. Despite increasing interest in the possible relationships between bacteria and the different stages of cancer development, the association of bacteria with cancer of the oral cavity has yet to be adequately examined. Different bacteria have been proposed to induce carcinogenesis, either through induction of chronic inflammation or by interference, either directly or indirectly, with eukaryotic cell cycle and signaling pathways or by metabolism of potentially carcinogenic substances like acetaldehyde, causing mutagenesis. This review presents the possible carcinogenesis pathway involved in bacterial carcinogenesis, commonly implicated bacteria in oral carcinogenesis and their role in cancer therapeutics as well.