A significant grant from private individuals is enabling Fanconi Hope to fund a pilot study in Manchester to characterise the oral microbiome of individuals with Fanconi Anaemia.
The oral microbiome is a complex community of bacteria and other micro-organisms living in your mouth, playing a crucial role in digestion and protecting against disease.
Ethanol-producing bacteria in the oral microbiome appear to be linked to the production of acetaldehyde, which Prof Ketan Patel from the University of Oxford, has long maintained is linked with DNA damage, which can be cancer causing in people with FA.
In this pilot study, samples from individuals with FA attending the Manchester clinic will be collected and characterised using DNA sequencing techniques. A larger follow-on study is envisaged which would use this data to help us understand the role the oral microbiome may have in causing both mouth cancer and other types of cancer and whether the bacteria in the microbiome could help us find cancer early.
Research also suggests that by changing these mouth bacteria, we might be able to prevent these cancers, make cancer treatments work better, or reduce the side effects of cancer treatments. The Ethics approval process for this research, which involves several different departments is a slow but necessary precursor to starting work, but the key individuals have been identified and are in place.
We are indebted to Tom Bennett and Beatrice Gatti Bennett for covering the costs of this exciting pilot programme?through their Aurelia Bennett fund