Yang Y, et al. - Because oral microbiome can play a major role in the pathogenesis of cancer, researchers studied the role of oral microbiome in the subsequent development of colorectal cancer (CRC). The study sample consisted of 231 incident CRC cases and 462 controls within the Southern Community Cohort Study (75% African American). An increased CRC risk was noted in relation to the presence of oral pathogens Treponema denticola and Prevotella intermedia. Patients with CRC had more Bifidobacteriaceae in the phylum Actinobacteria vs control participants. In the phylum Bacteroidetes, an increased CRC risk was observed in relation to Prevotella denticola and Prevotella sp. oral taxon 300, while a decreased risk was noted in relation to Prevotella melaninogenica. Both African American and European American individuals displayed most of these associations, which were not found to be significant after Bonferroni correction for multiple testing. Overall, the investigators suggested that the oral microbiome may play an important part in CRC etiology.