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Microorganisms
Special Issues
The Role of Microbiota in Cancer Development and Therapy
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The Role of Microbiota in Cancer Development and Therapy

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 1040

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Shengxi Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Biodesign Center for Bioenergetics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA
Interests: cancers; viral infection; emerging pathogens; diagnosis; treatment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to explore the complex and increasingly recognized role of the human microbiota in cancer development, progression, and treatment response. Microbial communities residing in the gut, oral cavity, skin, and other body sites have profound effects on host immunity, metabolism, and inflammation—key factors influencing tumorigenesis. Recent advances highlight the microbiota’s dual role: certain microbial populations contribute to carcinogenesis, while others exhibit protective or therapeutic potential.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Mechanistic links between dysbiosis and cancer initiation or progression;
  • The impact of microbiota on tumor microenvironment and immune modulation;
  • Microbial biomarkers for cancer risk, prognosis, and therapy response;
  • The influence of microbiota on chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy efficacy and toxicity;
  • Microbiome-targeted interventions (e.g., probiotics, antibiotics, fecal microbiota transplantation) in cancer prevention and treatment;
  • Interactions between diet, microbiota, and cancer;

By integrating microbiology, oncology, immunology, and systems biology, this Special Issue aims to deepen our understanding of how modulating the microbiome may unlock novel strategies for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and personalized therapy.

Dr. Shengxi Chen
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • microbiota
  • microbiome
  • cancer
  • tumorigenesis
  • dysbiosis
  • inflammation
  • immune modulation
  • gut microbiota
  • tumor microenvironment
  • cancer therapy
  • microbial metabolites
  • probiotics
  • cancer prevention

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 3316 KB  
Article
Characterization of the Oral and Stomach Microbial Community Structure in Patients with Intestinal Metaplasia, Dysplasia, and Gastric Cancer Through High-Throughput Sequencing
by Hokyung Song, Seon Woo Oh, Jung-Hwan Oh and Tatsuya Unno
Microorganisms 2026, 14(1), 209; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms14010209 - 16 Jan 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 728
Abstract
Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide, with the highest incidence in East Asia. Although H. pylori is a well-known risk factor, carcinogenesis can occur independently of H. pylori infection, and approximately 43% of adults carry H. pylori as part [...] Read more.
Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide, with the highest incidence in East Asia. Although H. pylori is a well-known risk factor, carcinogenesis can occur independently of H. pylori infection, and approximately 43% of adults carry H. pylori as part of their native microbiota. This study aimed to identify potential oral and gastric microbial markers across different histological stages of GC in both H. pylori-positive and -negative patients. Buccal swabs and gastric mucosa samples were collected from patients with intestinal metaplasia, low-grade dysplasia, high-grade dysplasia, early GC, or advanced GC. Total DNA was extracted, and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was performed. Microbiome diversity generally remained stable across histological stages, with no directional shifts in community structure. Differential abundance analysis revealed higher relative abundances of Anaerostipes, Phocaeicola, and Collinsella in the gastric antrum of cancerous samples. Anaerostipes and Phocaeicola are typically enriched in the intestinal microbiota but are rarely observed in the stomach, suggesting their potential ecological and pathological relevance in gastric carcinogenesis. In H. pylori-negative patients, however, a different stage-associated abundance pattern was observed, in which Faecalibacterium, a genus predominantly associated with the intestinal environment, was less abundant in advanced gastric cancer samples than in earlier histological stages within the gastric body. These findings suggest that microbial changes during gastric cancer progression may follow different trajectories depending on H. pylori infection status. In oral samples, Haemophilus and Prevotella were more abundant in intestinal metaplasia than in low-grade dysplasia, and network analysis indicated links between Neisseria and Filifactor at oral and gastric sites. However, as the study population was limited to a single country and ethnicity, the applicability of these microbial markers should be carefully considered. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Microbiota in Cancer Development and Therapy)
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