Which fungi in Cell are associated with tumor prognosis?

According to a study by researchers at Will Cornell Medical School and Duke University, there are some fungal species present in tumor predictions that could even lead to more severe cancer outcomes
.

The paper, published in Cell, provides a scientific framework for developing tests that describe specific fungal species in tumors that are relevant to
predicting cancer progression and treatment.
The findings also point to the use of antifungal therapies in some cases to enhance the likelihood of
traditional cancer treatments.

"These findings open up many exciting research directions, from the development of diagnosis and treatment to the study of the detailed biological mechanisms of the fungus' relationship with cancer," said senior author Dr.
Iliyan Iliev, an associate professor of medical immunology in the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and a member of the Gil Roberts Institute of
Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Will Cornell Medical School.

The study's first author is Anders Dohlman
, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering at Duke University.

The idea that viruses and bacteria can trigger or accelerate cancer development is now well proven
.
However, little
is known about the role of fungi in relation to cancer.
Like bacteria and viruses, fungi colonize the intestines, lungs, skin, and other barrier tissues, interact with the immune system, and sometimes lead to disease
.

In the new study, researchers classified
fungal species and their relationship to different cancers by analyzing the Cancer Genome Atlas.
The Cancer Genome Atlas is the most well-annotated genomic database
for human tumors.
The analysis showed that DNA from certain fungal species was relatively abundant
in certain tumor types.
For example, gastrointestinal tumors are rich in Candida tropicalis and Candida albicans, which also often cause thrush and yeast infections; Lung tumors are rich in a fungal genus called Blastomyces; Breast tumors are rich in Malassezia
.
The researchers devised sophisticated calculations to rule out fungal DNA that may have come from laboratory contamination and to be able to specifically confirm the presence of Candida live in coloral cancer samples
.

Their analysis showed that there are higher levels of Candida in gastrointestinal tumors, and tumor gene activity promotes inflammation and reduces cell-to-cell adhesion — traits associated with the spread of cancer to distant organs in advanced stages, called metastasis
.
Higher levels of Candida are directly associated
with higher rates of tumor metastasis.

According to the researchers, the findings suggest that high levels of specific fungi in tumor biopsies may one day be used as biomarkers, for example, to indicate a higher risk of metastasis — which in turn could lead to the choice of more effective treatments
.
Researchers often detect DNA
from the same Candida in gastrointestinal tumor samples and matching blood samples from the same patient.

"These data are exciting because they lay the foundation
for simple, inexpensive testing.
Candida DNA can more precisely describe the prognosis of gastrointestinal cancers and enhance standard tumor DNA biopsies to detect these cancers
early before other symptoms appear.
”

It is conceivable that tumor-associated fungi could also serve as targets for antifungal therapy to improve overall therapeutic outcomes
.
However, this prospect hinges on an unanswered question: Are fungi living in tumors, like some known bacteria, likely to promote the development of malignancies by exacerbating inflammation? Or is it that fungi are associated with certain tumors simply because when tumors develop to a certain extent, they provide an increasingly favorable environment for fungi to grow?

The researchers plan to continue this and other aspects of research in further studies: "Some of these fungi promote tumor progression and metastasis, but even if they are not, they may be very valuable prognostic indicators
.
" ”