Background: Still, little is known about microbial dysbiosis in oropharyngeal and laryngeal tissue as risk factor for development of local squamous cell carcinoma. The site-specific microbiota at these regions in healthy and cancer tissue and their modulation by environmental factors need to be defined.
Methods: The local microbiota of cancer tissue and healthy controls was profiled by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and statistical analysis using 111 oropharyngeal and 72 laryngeal intraoperative swabs.