Investigation of the Potential Presence of Porphyromonas gingivalis in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (ESCC) Paraffin-Embedded Tissue Samples

Background and Aim: Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cancer and the sixth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Evidence suggests that there is a link between bacterial infection and malignancy. There are few studies on the prevalence of Porphyromonas gingivalis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), so this study aimed to investigate the possible presence of this bacterium in ESCC tissue samples. Materials and Methods: In this study, 34 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma samples were collected to evaluate the potential presence of Porphyromonas gingivalis. After extracting the DNA, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was used to detect the presence of the bacterium molecularly. Results: The age range of the study population was 26 to 90 years, with a mean age of 63 years. Most tissue samples come from stage I cancer (73.5%). Based on the molecular analysis, no P. gingivalis was detected in any biopsy specimens. Conclusion: P. gingivalis infection and ESCC were not correlated based on the current in this study. Likely, the use of fresh samples, more accurate diagnostic methods, geographic differences, and larger sample sizes all contribute to the differences in results between related research, which can be clarified through large-scale studies.