Jared Mayers, MD, PhD

Our bodies are home to trillions of tiny living things called bacteria. A growing amount of research shows that these bacteria can play a role in how cancer starts and grows. Most scientists have focused on this connection in the gut, which is packed with bacteria. It might also be true for the lungs, but this is much harder to study because the lungs have far fewer bacteria. Right now, we can only identify which bacteria are there. To learn how these lung bacteria might affect cancer, we need to understand what they are actually doing. Unfortunately, our current tools are not sensitive enough to show us. We are creating two new ways to look at lung bacteria in cancer tissue from patients. These tools will let us see not only which bacteria are there, but more importantly, which of their genes are turned on. A gene that is “turned on” can tell us what a bacterium is doing. This will help us form new ideas about how they could be involved in lung cancer. This work will provide the first detailed picture of how bacteria might be involved in lung cancer. Understanding their role could lead to new tests to find lung cancer earlier or to identify people who are at a higher risk. It could also help us discover new ways to prevent lung cancer. We might even be able to design personalized treatments that change a person’s unique mix of bacteria to help fight cancer.