Dear Colleagues,

In addition to the role that microbiome, dysbiosis, and specific pathogens play in infectious and autoimmune diseases, the potential influences on cancer development are also increasingly recognized. The concept of cancer associated with the microbiota is currently a hot topic, and researchers have a great deal of attention to the role of the microbiome, dysbiosis, specific pathogens, and cancer.

The oral cavity is one of the largest microbial repositories in the human body, and microbial variations in the oral cavity could be highly linked to malignancies of both the oral cavity and distant organs.

Oral dysbiosis and specific pathogens, such as Human Papillomavirus, Epstein–Barr virus, and Candida Albicans, have been associated with premalignant and malignant lesions of the oral cavity and head and neck region and have been implied in malignant transformation of the oral mucosa.

Moreover, many different species of oral bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa are known to affect general health and several systemic disorders and diseases, including extra-oral cancers of the lung, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver, and colorectum. The oral microbiome could promote carcinogenesis at extra-oral sites either through systemic inflammation, the distant indirect effect of virulence factors, microorganisms' direct translocation via the bloodstream, the oro-digestive and respiratory tracts, or influencing responsiveness to treatments by interacting with the host immune response.

Studies from basic to clinical research, reviews and communications, exploring the inter-relation between the oral microbiome, specific pathogens, dysbiotic phenomena, and infection, and oral and extra-oral cancerogenesis, and investigating cancer prevention measures and therapeutic interventions based on reversing dysbiosis and eradicating infections are welcome.

Dr. Federica Di Spirito
Dr. Alessandra Amato
Guest Editors

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• oral dysbiosis
• oral microbiome
• Human Papillomavirus
• HPV
• Epstein–Barr virus
• EBV
• Candida albicans
• Fusobacterium nucleatum
• cancer
• carcinoma
• carcinogenesis