Tumor-resident intracellular microbiota promotes metastatic colonization in breast cancer.

Abstract

Tumor-resident intracellular microbiota is an emerging tumor component that has been documented for a variety of cancer types with unclear biological functions. Here, we explored the functional significance of these intratumor bacteria, primarily using a murine spontaneous breast-tumor model MMTV-PyMT. We found that depletion of intratumor bacteria significantly reduced lung metastasis without affecting primary tumor growth. During metastatic colonization, intratumor bacteria carried by circulating tumor cells promoted host-cell survival by enhancing resistance to fluid shear stress by reorganizing actin cytoskeleton. We further showed that intratumor administration of selected bacteria strains isolated from tumor-resident microbiota promoted metastasis in two murine tumor models with significantly different levels of metastasis potential. Our findings suggest that tumor-resident microbiota, albeit at low biomass, play an important role in promoting cancer metastasis, intervention of which might therefore be worth exploring for advancing oncology care.

• Authors: Aikun Fu, Bingqing Yao, Tingting Dong, Yongyi Chen, Jia Yao, Yu Liu, Hang Li, Huiru Bai, Xiaoqin Liu, Yue Zhang, Chunhui Wang, Yajing Guo, Nan Li, Shang Cai
• Journal: Cell (Cell) Vol. 185 Issue 8 Pg. 1356-1372.e26 (04 14 2022) ISSN: 1097-4172 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 35395179 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Topics

• Animals
• Breast Neoplasms (microbiology, pathology)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Female
• Humans
• Lung Neoplasms (pathology)
• Mice
• Microbiota
• Neoplasm Metastasis
• Neoplastic Cells, Circulating (pathology)