Brushing your teeth regularly could help to prevent bowel¹ cancer, a study suggests.

一项研究显示，定期刷牙可有助于预防肠道癌。

This is because the mouth bacteria that cause bleeding gums can travel via the blood to the bowel where they could trigger cancer or worsen existing tumours².

这是因为，人口中有可以引起牙龈出血的细菌，而这些细菌能够通过血液进入肠道，从而引发癌症或者恶化已有的肿瘤症状。

The bug fusobacterium has been found to be hundreds of times more common in cancerous tumours than in normal cells. Now researchers have found that the microbes can make pre-cancerous growths in the bowel turn cancerous. They can also make any existing tumours in the bowel grow larger. Scientists are investigating how the bacteria make their way to the gut³ through the bloodstream.

和正常细胞相比，在恶性肿瘤细胞中发现“梭杆菌”的几率要高几百倍。现在研究人员们已经发现，这种细菌能够使得肠道中的良性肿瘤恶化演变成为癌症。此外，它们还会使得肠道内已经存在的肿瘤生长得更大。目前，科学家们正在研究这种细菌到底是如何通过血液循环进入肠道的。

The researchers found that the bacteria have a protein that allows them to stick to sugar molecules⁴ attached to benign⁵ growths called polyps as well as cancer tumours in the bowel. The bacteria are anaerobic⁶ – they do not breathe oxygen – so are well suited to live in the bowel.

研究人员发现，这种细菌携带一种蛋白质，这种蛋白质使得它们可以黏在糖分子上，从而依附在肠道内，促进息肉或者癌症肿瘤的生长。这种细菌是一种厌氧菌（不蓄意呼吸氧气），因此它们很适合在肠道内生存。

After sticking to the polyps or tumours, the presence of the bacteria promotes their growth, according to the research published in Cell Growth and Microbe.

据这份发表在《细菌生长与微生物》杂志上的研究来看，在附着在息肉或者肿瘤上之后，这种细菌将会促进它们的生长。

Co-author Wendy Garrett, a professor at Harvard University's TH Chan School of Public Health, said a greater understanding of the mechanism⁷ may help stop people developing cancerous tumours.

来自哈佛大学陈曾熙公共卫生学院的教授温蒂·加勒特，是这项研究的联合作者，她表示，对这一机制的更进一步理解有可能帮助人们不再患上癌症。

She added: 'Alternatively, and perhaps more importantly, our findings suggest that drugs targeting the same or similar mechanisms⁸ of bacterial⁹ sugar-binding proteins could potentially prevent these bacteria from exacerbating¹⁰ colorectal cancer.'

她补充说道：“或者，也许更加重要的是，我们的研究结果表明，如果立足于相同或者相似的细菌糖结合蛋白机制的研究，那么就有可能防止这些细菌恶化肠癌。”

Fusobacterium worsens gum disease in the mouth because it acts as an 'anchor' around teeth and gums for other bacteria, helping¹¹ to cause a biofilm – a 'mat' of different bacteria that eat away at the gums, causing inflammation, and loosening the teeth.

口腔内的梭杆菌可以恶化牙龈病，因为这种细菌就好像其他细菌的“锚”一样，环绕在牙齿和牙龈的周围，从而有助于形成一个生物膜--各种细菌在这里堆积厚厚的一层，把牙龈周围都侵蚀殆尽，导致发炎、牙齿松动。

As well as worsening cancer, the bugs¹² have also been found to worsen the bowel condition ulcerative colitis, which in turn is also linked to cancer.

除了能够恶化癌症外，这种细菌也能够恶化肠道环境，导致溃疡性结肠炎，这反过来又和癌症有关。