Cell: The first-ever map of fungal biosets describing the link between cancer and fungi!

An international team of scientists co-led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine created the first pan-cancer fungal biogroup map – a survey
of 35 cancers and their associated fungi.

The findings were published on Cell on September 29, 2022
.

Cancer cells and microbes have a long-lasting and lasting connection
.
They co-evolve in the human ecosystem and often rely on the same resources
.
Competition for these resources often affects the replication and survival of cancer cells, microbes, and human hosts
.

The link between cancer and individual microbes has long been studied on a case-by-case basis, but recent concerns have focused more on the entire human microbiome, especially in the gut, which accommodates more diverse communities of bacteria, viruses and fungi than anywhere inside or outside the human body
.

However, the role and effects of cancer-related fungi remain largely unstudied and unknown
.
Fungi are more complex organisms
than viruses and bacteria.
They are eukaryotes – organisms
that contain nuclei in their cells.
Their cells are more similar to animal cells
than bacteria or viruses.

"The presence of fungi in most human cancers is surprising and to be expected," said Dr.
Rob Knight, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and co-founder of Micronoma, a San Diego-based company that develops microbial biomarkers in blood and tissues for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer
.

"This is surprising because we don't know how the fungus enters the tumor throughout the
body.
But it's also worth looking forward to, as it fits into the pattern of a whole-body healthy microbiome that includes the gut, mouth, and skin, where bacteria and fungi interact to become part of
a complex community.
”

There are two main types of fungi found in humans: one is environmental fungi, such as yeast and mold, which usually do no harm to most healthy people; The other is symbiotic fungi, which live on or in the body and may be harmless and beneficial to the human body, such as improving intestinal health, or causing diseases such as yeast infections or liver diseases
.
Fungi also play a role in shaping host immunity, which is particularly prominent
in immunocompromised people, including cancer patients.

The new study describes cancer flora — cancer-associated fungi — in 17,401 patient tissue, blood and plasma samples, covering four separate groups of 35 cancers
.
The researchers found that in many major human cancers, fungal DNA and cell abundances are low, and fungal communities are composed differently for different
cancer types.

"The discovery that fungi are ubiquitous in human tumors should prompt us to better explore their potential effects and re-examine almost everything we know about cancer through 'microbiome lensing,'" said Lead researcher and co-corresponding author Dr.
Ravid Straussman,
principal investigator and co-corresponding author of the Weizmann Institute for Science.

Analysis of fungal communities compared to matching bacterial groups (the bacterial components of the microbiome) and immunogroups (the genes and proteins that make up the immune system) showed that the links between them were often "permissible" rather than competitive
.

For example, one fungus is enriched in breast cancer tumors in patients over the age of 50, while another fungus is distinctly enriched
in lung cancer samples.

The researchers say there is a significant correlation between specific fungi and age, tumor subtypes, smoking status, response to immunotherapy, and survival measures
.
Whether these fungi are purely related or causally related remains to be determined
.

"These findings confirm the idea that the microbiome as a whole is a key part of cancer biology," said study co-author Dr.
Gregory Sepich-Poore, co-founder and chief analyst of Micronoma, "and could lead to significant translational opportunities, not only in cancer detection, but also in other biotechnology applications related to drug development, cancer evolution, minimal residual disease, relapse and concomitant diagnosis
.
" ”

Original:

Pan-cancer analyses reveal cancer-type-specific fungal ecologies and bacteriome interactions