The human tumor microbiome is composed of tumor type–specific intracellular bacteria

Abstract

Profiling tumor bacteria Bacteria are well-known residents in human tumors, but whether their presence is advantageous to the tumors or to the bacteria themselves has been unclear. As an initial step toward addressing this question, Nejman et al. produced an exhaustive catalog of the bacteria present in more than 1500 human tumors representing seven different tumor types (see the Perspective by Atreya and Turnbaugh). They found that the bacteria within tumors were localized within both cancer cells and immune cells and that the bacterial composition varied according to tumor type. Certain biologically plausible associations were identified. For example, breast cancer subtypes characterized by increased oxidative stress were enriched in bacteria that produce mycothiol, which can detoxify reactive oxygen species. Science , this issue p. 973 ; see also p. 938

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Affiliated Institutions

• University of Bologna IT
• Sheba Medical Center IL
• The Netherlands Cancer Institute NL
• Tel Aviv University IL
• Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli IT
• Rabin Medical Center IL
• City Of Hope National Medical Center US
• Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center IL
• Open University of Israel IL
• AstraZeneca (United States) US
• Technion – Israel Institute of Technology IL
• Dalhousie University CA
• The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center US
• Jerusalem College of Technology IL
• Maccabi Health Care Services IL
• Weizmann Institute of Science IL
• Rambam Health Care Campus IL

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