Evidence in mice that bacteria in tumors help cancer cells metastasize
Date:
April 7, 2022
Source:
Cell Press
Summary:
Bacteria promote cancer metastasis by bolstering the strength of
host cells against mechanical stress in the bloodstream, promoting
cell survival during tumor progression, researchers report.
FULL STORY ========================================================================== Bacteria promote cancer metastasis by bolstering the strength of host
cells against mechanical stress in the bloodstream, promoting cell
survival during tumor progression, researchers report April 7th in the
journal Cell.
==========================================================================
"Our study reveals that the cancer cell's behavior is also controlled by
the microbes hiding inside tumors, the majority of which were originally thought to be sterile," says senior author Shang Cai of the Westlake
Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine. "This microbial involvement
is distinct from the genetic, epigenetic, and metabolic components that
most cancer drugs target." "However, our study does not mean that
using antibiotics during cancer treatment will benefit patients," he
says. "Therefore, it is still an important scientific question of how to
manage the intratumor bacteria to improve cancer treatment in the future." Microbes play a critical role in affecting cancer susceptibility and
tumor progression, particularly in colorectal cancers. However, emerging evidence suggests that they are also integral components of the tumor
tissue itself in in a broad range of cancer types, such as pancreatic
cancer, lung cancer, and breast cancer. Microbial features are linked
to cancer risk, prognosis, and treatment responses, yet the biological functions of tumor-resident microbes in tumor progression remain unclear.
Whether these microbes are passengers or drivers of tumor progression
has been an intriguing question. "Tumor cells hijacked by microbes could
be more common than previously thought, which underscores the broad
clinical value of understanding the exact role of the tumor-resident
microbial community in cancer progression," Cai says.
To address this gap, Cai and his collaborators used a mouse model of
breast cancer with significant amounts of bacteria inside cells, similar
to human breast cancer. They found that the microbes can travel through
the circulatory system with the cancer cells and play critical roles in
tumor metastasis.
Specifically, these passenger bacteria are able to modulate the cellular
actin network and promoted cell survival against mechanical stress
in circulation.
"We were surprised initially at the fact that such a low abundance of
bacteria could exert such a crucial role in cancer metastasis. What is
even more astonishing is that only one shot of bacteria injection into
the breast tumor can cause a tumor that originally rarely metastasizes
to start to metastasize," Cai says. "Intracellular microbiota could be a potential target for preventing metastasis in broad cancer types at an
early stage, which is much better than to have to treat it later on."
Although the study revealed a clear role of intratumor bacteria in
promoting cancer cell metastatic colonization, the authors did not
exclude the possibility that the gut microbiome and immune system may act together with intratumor bacteria to determine cancer progression. In the future, further in- depth analysis of how bacteria invade tumor cells,
how intracellular bacteria are integrated into the host cell system,
and how bacteria-containing tumor cells interact with the immune system
will provide insights on how to properly implement antibiotics for cancer therapeutics in the clinic.
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Cell_Press. Note: Content may be
edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Aikun Fu, Bingqing Yao, Tingting Dong, Yongyi Chen, Jia Yao,
Yu Liu, Hang
Li, Huiru Bai, Xiaoqin Liu, Yue Zhang, Chunhui Wang, Yajing Guo,
Nan Li, Shang Cai. Tumor-resident intracellular microbiota promotes
metastatic colonization in breast cancer. Cell, 2022; DOI: 10.1016/
j.cell.2022.02.027 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220407141908.htm
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