In addition to immunosuppressive feature, we observed that patients with high bacterial load exhibited significant cell cycle dependent proliferation characteristics, which may be mediated by mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades induced by bacteria via the toll-like and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain–like receptors. Together, these potential mechanisms suggest that NPC microbiome might reinforce disease progression by modulating pathways both within tumor and immune microenvironment. Here, WNK2 is linked to nasopharyngeal carcinoma.