The Role of the Oral Microbiome in Modulating Therapeutic Outcomes in Lung Cancer: Key Commensals and Clinical Implications

Lung cancer remains one of the deadliest forms of cancer worldwide; thus, there is an urgent need to continually devise new strategies to effectively treat this condition. In this review, we will discuss one of the previously less studied but important aspects of the oral microbiome in both accelerating the development of lung cancer and modulating the efficacy of its treatment modalities. Herein, following an exhaustive search of available databases, we summarize the current knowledge on the association between oral microbiota and lung cancer, focusing on its impact on the efficacy and complications of widely used lung cancer treatments, including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. We also discuss the evidence supporting the use of oral microbiome-targeting interventions in improving outcomes in lung cancer, both preclinically and clinically, and conclude that the full potential of modulating oral dysbiosis in lung cancer has yet to be realized, requiring broader and larger-scale studies in the future. We hope that this review will highlight the importance of an often-forgotten aspect of lung cancer treatment optimization.