The stomach is the organ responsible for digestion. Its health is essential, as it allows the body to break down food
X-ray of stomach cancer : gastric tumor
Recent research presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2024 highlighted very specific conditions that could lead to a diagnosis of stomach cancer years earlier, allowing for timely treatment.
According to the study’s authors, led by Dr. Shruthi Reddy Perati of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, this signal could be detected directly in the mouth through changes in bacterial composition. Of 98 patients examined while awaiting a gastroscopy, a third of whom had gastric cancer, those with bacteria such as Helicobacter, Selenomonas, and Lactobacillus in their mouths were found to be more likely to develop stomach cancer, while healthier individuals had bacteria such as Parabacteroides, Alistipes, and Phascolarctobacterium.
Even those with precancerous conditions showed a similar profile to the first group. “Using this type of analysis, with a simple mouthwash to collect samples, we were able to identify biomarkers that may be related to the risk of gastric cancer,” said Dr. Haejin In, an oncologist at the Rutgers Cancer Institute in New Jersey.
