Oral Fungal Signatures in CCA: Are We Looking in the Right Place?

In a recent study analyzing saliva samples from 72 patients with cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) and 132 healthy controls, researchers identified significant alterations in the oral mycobiome. CCA patients demonstrated reduced fungal diversity, with enrichment of genera such as Candida and Komagataella, alongside disrupted bacteria–fungi interaction networks—suggesting that cross-kingdom microbial dysbiosis may be linked to CCA pathogenesis. Importantly, a five-ASV fungal-based diagnostic model showed excellent discriminative performance (AUC 99.91% in discovery and 98.33% in validation), highlighting the potential of salivary fungal profiling as a non-invasive diagnostic adjunct in CCA. To know more, click here ##Reference## Ren, T., Jia, B., Rao, B.

et al. Alterations of the oral mycobiome in patients with CCA. BMC Oral Health (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12903-026-07885-8##