Metagenomic Assay for Identification of Microbial Pathogens in Tumor Tissues

Baldwin, Don A.; Feldman, Michael; Alwine, James C.; Robertson, Erle S.

; T-cell leukemia virus type 1; and human T-cell leukemia virus type 2), one bacterium (Helicobacter pylori), and two helminths (schistosomes and liver flukes) which are major contributors to cancers as etiological agents (1) . Considering the thousands of microbial species that comprise the normal human microbiome (2) , it is likely that the microbe communities can substantially influence normal physiology, as well as the causes of (or major contributors to) and response to diseases (3), including cancer. These effects are the subject of intense investigation in tissue systems known to have resident microbiomes, which include the gastrointestinal tract (4) (5) (6) , skin (7) , and airway (8) (9) (10) , and in immune and inflammatory responses (11) (12) (13) (14) . Microbiome profiling is also examining the less obvious roles for microbes and their presence in unexpected locations. Some examples that are relevant but not limited to cancer include modulation of tumor microenvironments (15) and dysbiosis of bacterial populations in breast cancer tissues (16) .