The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a two-year, $245,000 grant to a New York University (NYU) dental research team to identify bacteria in the oral cavity that may be associated with oral cancer, the university announced.
The team will collaborate with researchers at the NYU School of Medicine and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
The pilot study will compare the bacterial profiles of healthy, premalignant, and malignant oral tissue, according to Deepak Saxena, MS, PhD, the principal investigator of the study and an assistant professor of basic science and craniofacial biology at the NYU College of Dentistry (NYUCD). Samples will be collected from 35 patients at NYUCD and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Saxena's team will then use genetic sequencing to identify the bacteria present in each sample and assess which of the bacteria spur an inflammatory process known to be associated with the development of oral cancer.
"Our ultimate goal is to develop a risk-assessment protocol for oral cancer based on the bacterial profile of premalignant lesions and malignant tumors," Saxena said in a press release.
Plans call for a follow-up study involving a larger number of tissue samples.
Saxena's co-investigators include Zoya Kurago, DDS, PhD, an assistant professor of oral and maxillofacial pathology, radiology, and medicine; Yihong Li, DDS, MPH, a professor of basic science and craniofacial biology; Robert G. Norman, PhD, a research associate professor of epidemiology and health promotion; and Peter Sacks, PhD, a professor of basic science and craniofacial biology, all of NYUCD.
Additional co-investigators include Stuart M. Brown, PhD, an associate professor of cell biology at the NYU School of Medicine, and Cherry Estilo, DMD, an attending dentist with the Dental Service in the department of surgery at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute.
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