Human salivary samples from reterospective and prospective cases of breast, prostate, and colon cancer cases along with matched controls.

The human microbiome has been proposed as a useful biomarker for several different human diseases including various cancers. To answer this question, we examined salivary samples from two Canadian population cohorts, the Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow's Health project (PATH) and Alberta's Tomorrow Project (ATP). Sample selection was then divided into both a retrospective and prospective case control design examining individuals with prostate, breast, or colon cancer. In total 89 retrospective and 260 prospective cancer cases were matched to non-cancer controls and saliva samples were sequenced using 16S rRNA gene sequencing to compare bacterial diversity, and taxonomic composition.