Investigating Cancer-Specific Microbiomes: A Comprehensive Analysis of Tumor-Microenvironment Interactions Using Data Mining

The tumor microenvironment (TME) encompasses a vast array of biological materials including healthy cells, microbes, and other molecules. The relationship between the microbes and cancer progression represents a rapidly evolving field, offering significant potential for the development of innovative therapeutic strategies . The goal of this research was to use data mining to create a curated dataset of varying cancer types and their corresponding microbiota. The tumor microbiome composition varies by location, with ovarian tumors having the most unique composition. Bacterial beta diversity between tumor and adjacent nontumor tissues was provided for nine of the twelve tumor types. This dataset identified nine bacterial genera enriched in multiple tumor/adjacent tissues, six in three or more tumor tissues, one in three or more adjacent nontumor tissues, and five species enriched in two or more tumor tissues. Though different regions of the body contain vastly different microbiomes, several microbes were identified that were enriched in multiple tumor tissues across the body, suggesting a malignancy-bacterial relationship. Future research plans to focus on identifying the mechanisms through which these enriched species interact with tumor cells.