Systematic review and meta-analysis uncovers distinct bacterial profiles in cancerous breast tissue, suggesting potential microbial links to breast tumorigenesis.
AIMS: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. Recent research suggests that the microbiota may contribute to tumorigenesis via immune, inflammatory, or metabolic mechanisms. This meta-analysis aimed to compare the relative abundance of bacteria among cancerous(C), adjacent normal (NAT) and non-cancerous(N) breast tissues to identify microbial profiles associated with cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ). RESULTS: < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Although methodological heterogeneity was observed among studies, the findings suggest recurrent microbial patterns potentially associated with breast cancer. These observations should be considered exploratory and hypothesis-generating. Future research should prioritize standardized protocols, multi-omic integration, and geographically diverse cohorts to better elucidate causal relationships and clinical implications.
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Dardouri et al. (2026) studied this question.
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