In 83 lung cancer patients (38 with early-stage NSCLC), Tsay et al. reported that a lower airway microbiome similar to that of the oral cavity (i.e., enriched in taxa such as Streptococcus, Prevotella, and Veillonella) was associated with poorer survival in stage I–IIIA NSCLC, and that this oral-enriched signature was associated with upregulation of p53, PI3K/PTEN, ERK, and IL6/IL8 pathway transcription in the lower airway [17]. Here, IL6 is linked to lung cancer.