The Local Tumor Microbiome Is Associated with Survival in Late-Stage Colorectal Cancer Patients
Justine W. Debelius, Lars Engstrand, Andreas Matussek, Nele Brusselaers, James T. Morton, Margaretha Stenmarker, Renate Slind Olsen
Abstract
Microbiome studies in colorectal cancer (CRC) have primarily focused on the role of single organisms in cancer progression. Recent work has identified specific organisms throughout the intestinal tract, which may affect survival; however, the results are inconsistent. We found differences between the tumor microbiome and the microbiome of the rest of the intestine in patients, and the magnitude of this difference was associated with survival, or, the more like a healthy gut a tumor looked, the better a patient's prognosis. Our results suggest that future microbiome-based interventions to affect survival in CRC will need to target the tumor community.