Table 2.

Data from epidemiological studies performed in the context of Mycoplasma-cancer relationship.

Cancer type	Method	Mycoplasma species	Detection rate (%)∗	Study population∗	Country	Year	Reference
Prostate cancer	RT-PCR	M. hominis	15	125	Russia	2011	[82]
	ELISA	M. hominis	3	118
	PCR	7 Mycoplasma spp.	35.4	31	Turkey	2013	[83]
	RT-PCR	M. genitalium	9.56	115	Australia	2014	[84]
		U. urealyticum	0.86
		U. parvum	0
	PCR	U. urealyticum	1.61	62	Iran	2015	[85]
		M. genitalium	0
	PCR	M. genitalium	40	45	Japan	2019	[86]
		M. hyorhinis	0
		U. urealyticum	0
	RT-PCR	M. hominis	13.11	61	Iran	2020	[87]
	PCR and sequencing	U. parvum	20	50	KSA	2020	[88]
		U. urealyticum	16
Gastric cancer	PCR	12 Mycoplasma spp.	48	23	Japan	1995	[89]
	Southern blot	M. hyorhinis	15	27
	Immunohistochemistry PCR	M. hyorhinis	56	90	China	2001	[90]
	Immunohistochemistry	M. hyorhinis	54.1	98	China	2002	[91]
	Immunohistochemistry	M. hyorhinis	45.9	61	China	2006	[92]
		M. fermentans	—
	Nested PCR	M. hyorhinis	63.9
		M. fermentans	31.14
	Culture	M. hyorhinis	8.19
		M. fermentans	3.27
		M. hyorhinis + M. fermentans coinfection	1.63
Ovarian cancer	Combined PCR-ELISA	15 Mycoplasma spp.	59.3	27	USA	1996	[93]
	Combined PCR-ELISA	15 Mycoplasma spp.	13	29	Korea	1998	[94]
	Nested PCR	12 Mycoplasma spp.	13	46	USA	2001	[95]
	Sequencing	M. arginini	5
		M. salivarium	1
	Lipid-associated membrane protein-enzyme immunoassay (LAMP-EIA)	M. genitalium	11.76	68	Sweden	2011	[96]
Cervical cancer	Combined PCR-ELISA	15 Mycoplasma spp.	33.3	9	USA	1998	[97]
	Nested PCR	M. penetrans	45.45	55	China	2007	[98]
	Metagenomic sequencing	Ureaplasma spp. M. hominis M. genitalium	51.4 34 2.3	134	USA Tanzania	2020	[99]
Colon cancer	Immunohistochemistry PCR	Mycoplasma spp.	55.1	58	China	2001	[90]
Esophagus cancer			50.9	53
Breast cancer			39.7	63
Brain cancer			41	91
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma	PCR	M. fermentans	10.9	265	UK	2001	[100]
Renal cancer	Nested PCR	15 Mycoplasma spp.	82	33	Turkey	2005	[101]
	Nested PCR	Mycoplasma spp.	81.8	95	China	2008	[102]
Bladder cancer	Culture and nested PCR	M. penetrans	41.8	55	China	2009	[103]
Laryngeal cancer	Culture and PCR	M. salivarium	—	1 case	USA	2012	[104]
Tongue cancer	TaqMan PCR	M. salivarium	—	1 case	Germany	2014	[105]
Oropharynx cancer	PCR	M. hominis	—	1 case	France	2020	[106]
Lung cancer	Immunohistochemistry PCR	Mycoplasma spp.	52.6	59	China	2001	[107]
	PCR	Mycoplasma spp.	22.2	27	Turkey	2004	[108]
	ELISA	M. pneumoniae	—	1 case	Canada	2017	[109]

 ^∗Detection rate in control populations is not reported here. Only patients with confirmed cancer diagnosis are considered. (—) sign, data not mentioned.