Description du projet
Caractérisation du microbiome tumoral
Les bactéries qui vivent sur notre peau, dans notre intestin et dans d’autres parties de notre corps ont été abondamment étudiées. Des données récentes révèlent que des bactéries, des champignons et des virus colonisent également les tumeurs. Le projet Tumor microbiome financé par l’UE entend caractériser la signature moléculaire du microbiome de différents types de cancer et d’étudier leur impact sur la biologie des tumeurs et la réponse à la thérapie. Comprendre la diaphonie entre les bactéries tumorales et l’immunité tumorale est essentiel à l’amélioration des résultats cliniques de l’immunothérapie. En outre, les bactéries peuvent être exploitées dans le cadre de nouvelles thérapies anticancéreuses.
Objectif
The human body is host to a huge number of bacteria. While bacteria were first detected in human tumors over 150 years ago, our knowledge about their number, identity or effects in different human tumor types is still mostly rudimentary.
Over the last few years we focused on studying the tumor microbiome. We developed multiple methods to characterize and visualize intra-tumor bacteria, taking special measures to tell apart true tumor-bacteria from contamination. Profiling over 1,800 human tumors and normal adjacent tissues demostrated that bacteria are prevalent in many tumor types and that each tumor type has a unique microbial signature.
This application aims to capitalize on our cutting-edge research tools, vast experience and comprehensive preliminary data to shed light on the uncharted field of the tumor microbiome. We plan to:
(1) Characterize the different microbial communities (bacteria, fungi, others) and their dynamics in human tumors. We strive to provide a near complete narrative of how bacteria are distributed in the tumor, their association with immune cells and their dynamic changes with tumor development, metastasis and drug treatments.
(2) Study the effects that microbial communities may have on tumor biology, focusing primarily on tumor microbiome-mediated drug resistance and on tumor microbiome effects on tumor-associated macrophages.
(3) Exploit intra-tumor microbial communities for translational opportunities and novel therapeutics, in particular as an adjunct to current mainstay therapy or delivering innovative therapeutics via live bacteria.
Thus, this project will transform our understanding of the structure and function of intra-tumor microbial communities and will pave the way for us, as well as many others, to translate our findings into novel therapeutic options for cancer patients.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitution d’accueil
7610001 Rehovot
Israël