Targeting the tumour's own microbes
Some tumours contain bacteria and fungi that shelter cancer cells and break down chemotherapy. Killing them may make treatment work.
Intratumoural bacteria are present across many cancer types. Fusobacterium nucleatum is associated with colorectal cancer progression and chemoresistance, and gammaproteobacteria can metabolise gemcitabine inside pancreatic tumours. Antibiotic and targeted antimicrobial strategies remain preclinical, complicated by the fact that broad antibiotics also damage the gut microbiome that immunotherapy depends on.
How it works
Selectively eliminating tumour-resident microbes removes drug-degrading enzymes and immunosuppressive signalling from inside the tumour.
- Explains otherwise puzzling chemoresistance
- Cheap intervention if a targeted agent exists
- Independent of tumour genotype
- Broad antibiotics harm immunotherapy response
- Causality versus association unsettled
- No clinical trials of targeted intratumoural antimicrobials
Latest papers
topQuery for this technology: (TITLE:"Targeting the tumour's own microbes" OR ABSTRACT:"Targeting the tumour's own microbes") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Targeting the tumour's own microbes, not a curated reading list.