Nezar Al-Hebshi
Temple University, PA·Microbiology & Immunology
Mouth cancer is shaped partly by the community of microbes living in the mouth, the oral microbiome. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), the most common form of oral cancer, still has a poor outlook despite surgery, radiation and immunotherapy.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Biology
- Topics
oral squamous cell carcinoma
oral cancer
oral microbiome
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Dec 2026
What they work on
- Test whether the health-associated oral bacteria S. mitis and H. parainfluenzae prevent or slow mouth cancer, using mice given the chemical carcinogen 4-NQO and examining tumors by histopathology and immunohistochemistry.
- Determine whether S. mitis and H. parainfluenzae improve tumor responses to checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy in 4-NQO mice, tracking immune cells by flow cytometry and gene activity by RNA sequencing.
- Assess whether the yeast Candida albicans and the bacterium Fusobacterium nucleatum work together to transform normal, precancerous and cancerous oral epithelial cells, comparing clumping-capable strains with clumping-deficient mutants.
- Test whether co-carriage of C. albicans and F. nucleatum speeds oral cancer in 4-NQO mice, and whether this depends on raising INHBA, a suspected cancer gene in the TGF-β pathway, using gene knockdown experiments.
More about the research
The lab's earlier clinical studies linked OSCC with a distinct microbiome. The two current projects look at both sides of that link. One asks whether 'good' bacteria from healthy mouths can slow cancer. The other asks whether two harmful microbes, one a bacterium and one a fungus, team up to drive it.
Why it matters
Oral cancer patients still face poor survival despite modern treatment. If health-associated bacteria prove protective, they could be delivered directly into the mouth as a gel, mouthwash or lozenge. This could help prevent oral cancer or serve as an add-on to immunotherapy, with a low expected risk of side effects. Understanding how Candida and Fusobacterium cooperate could point to new microbial and molecular targets, such as INHBA, for slowing cancer progression.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Theresa Guo
University of California-San Diego, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Predict and rank splice-variant-derived peptides, short protein fragments made only by tumors with abnormal RNA splicing, from head and neck squamous cell carcinoma using an established computational pipeline.
Xiao-Jing Wang
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus, CO·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether blocking TGFβ and PD-L1 together strengthens the radiation-triggered "in situ vaccine" effect and immune activation across the body, using mouse oral cancer cells transplanted into the mouth of immune-competent mice.
Alex Valm
University at Albany, NY·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether long filamentous cells at the gum line bring plaque bacteria into contact with gum epithelium to start gingivitis, by imaging intact biofilms on extracted teeth with FISH probes for up to 18 bacterial types.
The school
Temple University: 22 labs on PI Pages, $315M a year on research, 238 research doctorates a year.
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