Exploring the role of microbiome-immune interactions in colorectal cancer development and immune evasion

Cancer is a highly prevalent and life-threatening disease, and somehow the tumors escape the immune system what makes treatment more difficult. Current therapies therefore focus on reactivating the immune system to clear the tumor. This seems successful to treat several cancer types, however not in the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC). CRC tumors thus have likely an additional way of escaping the immune system that might be associated with the gut environment. The colon indeed is a complex ecosystem in which close interactions between the tissue and commensal bacteria are important in digestion and preventing infections. This constant presence of bacteria demands regulatory mechanisms to prevent infection, but also prevent constant inflammation. We hypothesize that such immune regulatory mechanisms in the healthy colon and reprogramming those during microbial instability can influence the development and immune environment of tumors, and can make them more resistant to therapies. Hence, in this project we will study the three-way interaction of the gut microbiota, the tissue and the peripheral immune system during CRC development. Data coming from this project can give insight on local immune regulatory mechanisms and microbiome-immune interactions in the gut, and can suggest ways in which CRC tumors evade the immune response.