Assessing the role of the blood microbiome on cancer prediction: a focus on Atlantic Canadians

The human microbiome consists of microbes that live on and within the human body, and research shows that it could be associated with many types of cancer. The most well‑studied human microbiome is in the gut, but microbes can also travel through the body via blood. How blood microbes change over time, across populations, or with cancer remains unknown. With funding from an Atlantic Canada Research Grant, Dr Morgan Langille and his team are aiming to close this gap in knowledge and learn what blood microbes can tell us about cancer. The researchers will examine microbes present in 3 environments: tumours and blood at the time of cancer diagnoses, the blood of people previously diagnosed with cancer, and the blood of people who go on to develop new cancer. Using software tools, mathematical models and statistics, they will scour this biological data for evidence of links between cancer and blood microbes. This project could help doctors identify new biomarkers in the blood that helps them diagnose cancer earlier and more accurately predict how it will progress and behave. By equipping oncology teams with this insight into their patient’s specific cancer, this work could improve outcomes for people with cancer.