The impact of primary radiochemotherapy on the salivary fungal and bacterial microbiome in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients: A pilot study.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most common cancer type of the throat. Treatment options usually include surgery, radiotherapy and/or chemo(-immuno) therapy (RCHT).This project included 31 patients (5 female, 26 male, mean age 60 years, SD 7.5 years) and 11 healthy controls (11 female, 10 male, mean age of 47.8 years, SD 15.1 years). 11 patients (11 female, 10 male, mean age of 58 years, SD 7.6 years) provided samples before and after RCHT.We hypothesize that the salivary microbiome (archaea, bacteria and fungi) reflects the health/disease status of the pharynx of SCC patients and healthy controls. Additionaly, we assume that RCHT significantly impacts the salivary microbiome profile.