Multi-Omics Analysis Reveals Intratumor Microbes as Immunomodulators in Colorectal Cancer
Zhi Liu, Xuemei Zhang, Haoding Zhang, Hong Zhang, Zhongyuan Yi, Qingqing Zhang, Qisha Liu, Xingyin Liu
Abstract
Using the multi-omics data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) colorectal cancer (CRC) cohort, we estimated the tumor microenvironment (TME) infiltration patterns of patients and unraveled the interplay of gene expression, epigenetic modification, and the intratumor microbiome. This study suggests the impact of intratumor microbes on maintaining the tumor immune microenvironment in the pathogenesis of CRC and modulating the response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. We identified a set of combined features, including 3 ICB-related tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) and 22 of their associated microbes, that are predictive of ICB responses.