Oral microbiota reduce wound healing capacity of epithelial monolayers, irrespective of the presence of 5-FU

We have investigated the interactions between the host, the microbiome and chemotherapeutic treatments in the context of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis. To this end, the effect of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), commonly inducing mucositis, was assessed on a co-culture model that consist of an epithelial cell layer and a biofilm derived from oral microbiota from different types of samples (saliva, buccal swabs and tongue swabs) and donors (healthy individuals and patients suffering from mucositis). The microbial community of samples at 0h and after 24h co-incubation was assessed with Illumina MiSeq.