High-Resolution Atlas of Multi-Kingdom Cancer Microbiome Revealed
Researchers have successfully developed and benchmarked a specialized host-filtering and decontamination pipeline to analyze the microbiome within tumor samples. This advanced methodology was applied to a massive dataset comprising 16,369 tumor genomes, resulting in the creation of a high-resolution atlas of the cancer microbiome. The study reveals that while the majority of cancer types do not exhibit a detectable microbiome, orodigestive cancers are distinct in harboring complex microbial communities spanning multiple kingdoms. These communities demonstrate significant variation based on the specific anatomical site, cancer subtype, and the burden of somatic mutations present in the tumor. Crucially, the findings establish a link between the tumor microbiome, host phenotype, and the genomic context of the tumor. Published in the journal Cell, this research provides critical insights into the biological interactions between microbes and cancer cells, potentially influencing future diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for orodigestive cancers by highlighting the importance of microbial diversity in tumor environments.
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High-Resolution Atlas of Multi-Kingdom Cancer Microbiome Revealed
Researchers have successfully developed and benchmarked a specialized host-filtering and decontamination pipeline to analyze the microbiome within tumor samples. This advanced methodology was applied to a massive dataset comprising 16,369 tumor genomes, resulting in the creation of a high-resolution atlas of the cancer microbiome. The study reveals that while the majority of cancer types do not exhibit a detectable microbiome, orodigestive cancers are distinct in harboring complex microbial communities spanning multiple kingdoms. These communities demonstrate significant variation based on the specific anatomical site, cancer subtype, and the burden of somatic mutations present in the tumor. Crucially, the findings establish a link between the tumor microbiome, host phenotype, and the genomic context of the tumor. Published in the journal Cell, this research provides critical insights into the biological interactions between microbes and cancer cells, potentially influencing future diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for orodigestive cancers by highlighting the importance of microbial diversity in tumor environments.
Cell