REVIEW article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Oral Microbes and Host
This article is part of the Research TopicDental diseases: In the spotlight of oral microbiome and host immune defenses - New approaches for Oral Health and Oral CareView all 9 articles
Streptococcus spp. in Oral Cancer: Host-Microbe Interactions, Mechanistic Insights, and Diagnostic Implications
Provisionally accepted
Srikrishna Kedlaya Herga1
Adarsh Kudva2Suchitra Shenoy M3Thanvanthri Gururajan Vasudevan4
Vijendra Prabhu5
Raghavendra Upadhya6
A S Bharath Prasad1*- 1Department of Public Health Genomics, Manipal School of Life Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India
- 2Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal, India
- 3Kasturba Medical College Mangalore, Mangaluru, India
- 4Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara University, Dharwad, India
- 5Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, India
- 6Manipal Center for Biotherapeutics Research, Manipal, India
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Cancers of the oral cavity, particularly the widely prevalent oral squamous cell carcinoma, are associated with microbial dynamics within the oral niche. Among them, oral Streptococcus sp. – once neglected as a commensal habitat of the oral cavity – is currently highlighted for its pivotal dual interplay in the progression and suppression of oral cancers. In this comprehensive review, we describe the association of these oral streptococcal species with oral cancer in detail – right from their abundance and depletion during the progression of the disease, mechanistic synergy involving factors such as the surface receptors playing an intricate role in biofilm and co-adhesion strategies, to the inflammatory interplay in cancerous cells, and metabolic reprogramming associated with oral cancer. We also highlight oncogenic and onco-mitigating oral streptococci as biomarkers, observing a complex microbial interaction regulating tumor initiation and development. This review serves as a novel direction to address streptococcal mediators in oral cancer by bridging research gaps in mechanistic evidence and proposing effective prospects that can address deeper exploration of streptococcal dualistic role in the tumor microenvironment to decipher effective theranostic strategies to manage oral cancer.
Keywords: biomarkers, Cancer microbiome, Host-Bacteria Crosstalk, Inflammation, oral cancer, Oral microbiota, streptococci
Received: 19 Aug 2025; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kedlaya Herga, Kudva, Shenoy M, Vasudevan, Prabhu, Upadhya and Bharath Prasad. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: A S Bharath Prasad, bharath.prasad@manipal.edu
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