Cell large study: Cancer tumors contain a variety of fungi, each of which is different

According to a large study led by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the University of California, San Diego, cancer tumors contain a variety of fungi, each of which is different

The study, published today in the journal Cell, could have implications
for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, as well as for detecting cancer through blood tests.
It complements scientists' understanding of the interactions between cancer cells and bacteria that live in tumors alongside fungi and that have been shown to influence cancer growth, metastasis, and response to
treatment.

The researchers systematically analyzed fungal communities
in more than 17,000 tissue and blood samples from 35 cancer patients.
They found that fungi can be detected
in all these cancer types.
Fungi are mostly found "hiding" in
immune cells inside cancer cells or tumors.

The study also revealed multiple associations
between the presence of specific fungi in tumors and treatment-related conditions.
For example, in breast cancer patients, patients with Malassezia spheroids, a fungus that occurs naturally on the skin, have a much
lower survival rate than those without this fungus.
In addition, the study found that specific fungi were more prevalent in breast tumors in older patients than in younger patients, more prevalent in lung tumors in smokers than in non-smokers, and more prevalent
in melanoma that did not respond to immunotherapy than in tumors that responded to treatment.

The findings suggest that fungal activity is "a new and emerging hallmark of cancer," says Professor Ravid Straussman of Weizmann's Department of Molecular Cell Biology, who led
the study.
"These findings should prompt us to better explore the potential impact of tumor fungi and re-examine almost everything we know
about cancer through the 'microbiome.
'"

This study describes fungi and bacteria present in human tumors, demonstrating that typical fungal and bacterial "aggregates"
can be found in tumors.
For example, tumors containing Aspergillus fungi tend to contain specific bacteria, while other tumors containing Malassezia tend to contain other bacteria
.
These different "hubs" may be important for treatment because they correlate
with tumor immunity and patient survival.

"This study provides a new perspective on the complex biological environment inside tumors, and future studies will reveal how fungi affect cancer growth," said
study co-author Professor Yitzhak Pierpel, lead researcher in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute for Science.
"Fungi can be found not only in cancer cells, but also in immune cells, which means that in the future, we may find that fungi have an impact
not only on cancer cells, but also on immune cells and their activity.
"

The presence of fungi in most human cancers is "both surprising and exciting," said Rob Knight, a professor of pediatrics, bioengineering and computer science and engineering at the University of California, San Diego, and a co-author of the study
.
"This is surprising because we don't know how the fungus gets into tumors throughout the body
.
" But this is also to be expected, as it fits the pattern of the entire body's healthy microbiota, including the gut, mouth, and skin, where bacteria and fungi interact
as part of a complex community.
”

The new paper also explores the presence of fungal and bacterial DNA in
human blood.
"The findings suggest that measuring microbial DNA in the blood may help with early detection of cancer, as different microbial DNA signatures can be found in the blood of cancer patients and non-cancer patients," said
Dr.
Gregory Sepich-Poore, a former graduate student in Knight's lab.

Last year, Knight and Sepik-Poole co-founded Microonoma, a company that has developed a platform to use microbial biomarkers in the blood for early diagnosis
of cancer.

Original:

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

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