J Bacteriol Virol.  2009 Dec;39(4):277-285. 10.4167/jbv.2009.39.4.277.

Prevalence of Oral Microbes in the Saliva of Oncological Patients

• Kang MS
• Oh JS
• Kim HJ
• Kim HN
• Lee IK
• Choi HR
• Kim OJ
• Ko YJ
• Lim WB
• Park HJ
• Yu MG
• Chung KY
• Kim SM
• Lim HS

• KMID: 2168539
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4167/jbv.2009.39.4.277

Abstract

This study examined the prevalence of oral microbes in the saliva of oncological patients and healthy subjects. PCR was used to assess the frequency of oral microbes including 3 cariogenic bacteria, 5 periodontopathic bacteria and 4 Candida species in the saliva of 104 oncological patients and 52 healthy subjects. Among these microorganims, Streptococcus mutans, Fusobacterium nucleatum and Candida albicans were most frequently detected in both groups. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of cariogenic bacteria between the patient and healthy groups, whereas significant differences in the frequency of Porphyromonas gingivalis and Tannerella forsythia were observed between the two groups (p < 0.05). The prevalence of all five periodontopathogens was higher in the healthy group than in the patient group. The prevalence of C. albicans in patients was significantly higher than that of healthy group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, there were significant differences in the prevalence of P. gingivalis, T. forsythia and C. albicans between the oncological patient group and healthy group.

Keyword

Prevalence; Cariogenic bacteria; Periodontopathic bacteria; Candida; oncological; PCR

MeSH Terms

Bacteria
Candida
Candida albicans
Forsythia
Fusobacterium nucleatum
Humans
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Porphyromonas gingivalis
Prevalence
Saliva
Streptococcus mutans

Figure

• 

  Figure 1. The prevalence of cariogenic bacteria in the saliva of the study groups by PCR. HN, patients with head and neck tumors; HE, patients with hematological neoplasia; SO, patients with solid tumors; TO, total oncological patients; H, healthy subjects; Sm, S. mutans; Ss, S. sobrinus; Lb, Lactobacillus spp. ∗p < 0.05, vs. healthy subjects.

• 

  Figure 2. The prevalence of periodontopathic bacteria in the saliva of the study groups by PCR. HN, patients with head and neck tumors; HE, patients with hematological neoplasia; SO, patients with solid tumors; TO, total oncological patients; H, healthy subjects; Aa, A. actinomycetemcomitans; Pg, P. gingivalis; Tf, T. forsythia; Fn, F. nucleatum; Td, T. denticola. ∗p < 0.05, vs. healthy subjects.

• 

  Figure 3. The prevalence of Candida species in the saliva of the study groups by PCR. HN, patients with head and neck tumors; HE, patients with hematological neoplasia; SO, patients with solid tumors; TO, total oncological patients; H, healthy subjects; Ca, C. albicans; Cg, C. glabrata; Cp, C. parapsilosis; Ct, C. tropicalis. ∗p < 0.05, vs. healthy subjects.

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