Who is in the driver's seat? Parvimonas micra: An understudied pathobiont at the crossroads of dysbiotic disease and cancer

Recent advances in our understanding of microbiome composition at sites of inflammatory dysbiosis have triggered a substantial interest in a variety of historically understudied bacteria, especially among fastidious obligate anaerobes. A plethora of new evidence suggests that these microbes play outsized roles in establishing synergistic polymicrobial infections at many different sites in the human body. Parvimonas micra is a prime example of such an organism. Despite being almost completely uncharacterized at the genetic level, it is one of the few species commonly detected in abundance at multiple mucosal sites experiencing either chronic or acute inflammatory diseases, and more recently, it has been proposed as a discriminating biomarker for multiple types of malignancies. In the absence of disease, P. micra is commonly found in low abundance, typically residing within the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract. P. micra exhibits the typical features of an inflammophilic organism, meaning its growth actually benefits from active inflammation and inflammatory tissue destruction. In this mini-review, we will describe our current understanding of this underappreciated but ubiquitous pathobiont, specifically focusing upon the role of P. micra in polymicrobial inflammatory dysbiosis and cancer as well as the key emerging questions regarding its pathobiology. Through this timely work, we highlight Parvimonas micra as a significant driver of disease and discuss its unique position at the crossroads of dysbiosis and cancer.