FIGHTING CANCER
Israelis Scientists Identify New Culprit Behind
Cancerous Growths: Tumor-Specifi c Bacteria
FI GHTING CANCER
LARRY LUXNER | JTA.ORG
REHOVOT, ISRAEL —
Despite their reputation, most
bacteria are harmless. Many
are vital to human life.

Others, however, cause
infections that lead to fatal
diseases ranging from tuber-
culosis to bubonic plague.

Add cancer to that list, at
least indirectly. According to
new research led by Dr. Ravid
Straussman of the Weizmann
Institute of Science in Rehovot,
bacteria living inside cancer
cells are likely to have a profound
eff ect on how diff erent types of
tumors behave.

“Most bacteria you fi nd
in tumors are known to be
present in normal people,
but there’s also a minority
of bacteria that were never
described in humans or any
other host before,” Straussman
said. “Some of these bacteria
don’t even have names.”
DANIEL DOUEK
    





 
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26 OCTOBER 8, 2020
types. Interestingly, he discov-
ered that about 70% of breast
cancer patients have bacteria in
their tumors.

“Some of these bacteria could
be enhancing the anti-cancer
immune response, while others
could be suppressing it,” said
Dr. Mark Israel, executive
director of the Israel Cancer
Overall, this research will change the
diagnosis, management and prognosis of
human cancer.”
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While bacteria were fi rst
detected in human tumors
more than 100 years ago,
Straussman reported in a
paper in the May 29 issue of
Science that he found bacteria
live inside the cells of many
cancer types, and that each
type of cancer houses unique
populations of bacteria.

JEWISH EXPONENT
Breast cancer, which has a
relatively high incidence among
Jewish women, has a particularly
rich and diverse microbiome.

“Overall, this research will
change the diagnosis, manage-
ment and prognosis of human
cancer starting now and for
many years to come,” said Daniel
Douek, a senior investigator in
the human immunology division
of the National Institutes of
Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Straussman began his
research into bacteria nearly 10
years ago aft er wondering why
cancer cells in patients don’t
consistently respond to drugs
the way they do in the lab.

“People think of tumors
as a mass of cells that grows
uncontrollably,” Straussman
said in a recent interview at
his 15-person laboratory at
Weizmann’s Department of
Molecular Cell Biology. “Th e
truth is that tumors are just
like any other organ.”
In Straussman’s most recent
project, he and his team took
tumor samples from 1,526
patients with seven cancer
types — breast, lung, ovarian,
pancreatic, melanoma, bone
and brain — and found diff erent
assortments of bacteria that
correlated with specifi c tumor
Research Fund, or ICRF. “Th is
is important because speci-
fi city in biology means that
those bacteria are playing some
biologic role. In other words, if
there wasn’t a reason for those
bacteria to persist, the body
would reject them.”
Since 2016, ICRF has been
funding Straussman’s work
with grant funding exceeding
$300,000. Th e organization,
which raises millions of dollars
in North America for cancer
research, supports scientifi c
investigations at more than 20
institutions across Israel.

“The unique finding of
Straussman’s paper is that the
collections of bacteria within
tumor cells vary from tumor
type to tumor type,” Israel
said. “Th ey must be providing
some sort of advantage to the
tumor cells, or doing something
that contributes to the tumor’s
behavior. Th erefore, there’s a lot
of interest in getting rid of them,
and hopefully having a thera-
peutic eff ect.”
Straussman said his latest
study may also shed light on
why some bacteria are drawn
to certain cancer cells and why
each cancer has its own typical
microbiome. Tumors
are complex
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