ArticleInfectious agents and cancer2013
Bacteria and tumours: causative agents or opportunistic inhabitants?
Article in Infectious agents and cancer, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
85 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 175 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring the Diagnostic and Predictive Value of Oral Microbiome in Esophageal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Alterations in the Duodenal Fluid Microbiome of Patients With Pancreatic Cancer.Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association · 2022Trial
- Bacterial population dynamics during colonization of solid tumors.Molecular systems biology · 2026Article
- A Narrative Review on Unravelling Bacterial-Mediated Carcinogenesis and Possible Alternative Treatment Strategies.BioMed research international · 2026Review
- The human microbiome reshapes the breast cancer immune-metabolic-hormonal microenvironment.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Oral Microbiome as a Biomarker and Therapeutic Target in Head and Neck Cancer: Current Insights and Future Directions.Cancers · 2025Review
- Systemic Delivery Strategies for Oncolytic Viruses: Advancing Targeted and Efficient Tumor Therapy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Designing live bacterial therapeutics for cancer.Advanced drug delivery reviews · 2025Review
- Spatial Heterogeneity of Intratumoral Microbiota: A New Frontier in Cancer Immunotherapy Resistance.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Cross-laboratory replication of pseudomyxoma peritonei tumor microbiome reveals reproducible microbial signatures.mSphere · 2025Article
- Bacterial-Mediated In Situ Engineering of Tumour-Associated Macrophages for Cancer Immunotherapy.Cancers · 2025Review
- Brain Tumors and Beyond: Multi-Compartment Microbiome and Mycobiome Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- The oncobiome; what, so what, now what?Microbiome research reports · 2025Review
- Intratumoral microbiota: synergistic reshaping of lung cancer microenvironment via inflammation and immunity.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Review
- Diabetic Patient with CA-MRSA Pneumonia and Plasma Cell Neoplasm: A Case Report of Severe Complications and Prognosis.The American journal of case reports · 2024Article
- Evidence for the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi in invasive breast cancer tissues.European journal of microbiology & immunology · 2024Article
- [Relationship between Bacteria in the Lower Respiratory Tract/Lung Cancer and the Development of Lung Cancer as well as Its Clinical Application].Zhongguo fei ai za zhi = Chinese journal of lung cancer · 2024Review
- Microbiome in urologic neoplasms: focusing on tumor immunity.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
25 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Associations between different bacteria and various tumours have been reported in patients for decades. Studies involving characterisation of bacteria within tumour tissues have traditionally been in the context of tumourigenesis as a result of bacterial presence within healthy tissues, and in general, dogma holds that such bacteria are causative agents of malignancy (directly or indirectly). While evidence suggests that this may be the case for certain tumour types and bacterial species, it is plausible that in many cases, clinical observations of bacteria within tumours arise from spontaneous infection of established tumours. Indeed, growth of bacteria specifically within tumours following deliberate systemic administration has been demonstrated for numerous bacterial species at preclinical and clinical levels. We present the available data on links between bacteria and tumours, and propose that besides the few instances in which pathogens are playing a pathogenic role in cancer, in many instances, the prevalent relationship between solid tumours and bacteria is opportunistic rather than causative, and discuss opportunities for exploiting tumour-specific bacterial growth for cancer treatment.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.