2023-05-25 04:19:08
Microorganisms in the human body, collectively referred to as the “microbiome”, play a major role in central biological processes both in the healthy organism and in many diseases.
It has been known for several years that there is a connection between the response rate to certain types of immunotherapy against tumors and the bacterial composition of the intestinal flora. It was also recently shown that in many types of tumors there are bacteria that reside within the tumor – the so-called “tumor microbiome”.
international interest
An international team of researchers has now succeeded in detecting small protein fragments (peptides) from bacteria that are presented to the immune system by brain tumors on the cell surface.
“The bacterial peptides are not only presented, they are also recognized by the immune system and trigger an immune response against the tumor,” says PD Dr. Marian Christoph Neidert, Deputy Chief Physician at the Department of Neurosurgery at the Cantonal Hospital of St.Gallen and one of the heads of this research project.
Due to the groundbreaking new findings, the results were published in the prestigious journal “Nature”. “Nature” is considered the world’s most respected journal for scientific publications alongside “Science”.
Better chances
The malignant brain tumor investigated in this project is called glioblastoma. Glioblastomas are the most common malignant brain tumors in adults. Despite surgical removal, radiation, and chemotherapy, this type of brain tumor inevitably returns, drastically reducing life expectancy in most patients.
“These new findings will help us to develop better immunological approaches against brain tumors in the future,” says Neidert. “Hopefully we can improve the chances for our patients significantly with this.”
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