The Tumor Microbiome Reacts to Hypoxia and Can Influence Response to Radiation Treatment in Colorectal Cancer.

ABSTRACT: Tumor hypoxia has been shown to predict poor patient outcomes in several cancer types, partially because it reduces radiation's ability to kill cells. We hypothesized that some of the clinical effects of hypoxia could also be due to its impact on the tumor microbiome. Therefore, we examined the RNA sequencing data from the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network database of patients with colorectal cancer treated with radiotherapy. We identified microbial RNAs for each tumor and related them to the hypoxic gene expression scores calculated from host mRNA. Our analysis showed that the hypoxia expression score predicted poor patient outcomes and identified tumors enriched with certain microbes such as Fusobacterium nucleatum. The presence of other microbes, such as Fusobacterium canif

SUBMITTER: Benej M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11234499 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature