Obesity-related microbial dysbiosis as a potential modulator of tumour progression

Although there is a well-established connection between the gut microbiome and obesity, the specific mechanisms by which microbes regulate cell signalling, inflammation and adipocyte growth to influence disease severity in obese patients remain largely unclear. Subsequently, while obesity itself is a well-established risk factor for various cancers, the exact mechanisms by which it drives disease progression are not yet definitively known. In this study, we explored the link between obesity-associated microbiome alterations and cancer progression by analysing microbial abundance in tissue samples from obese and cancer patients, and we identified specific microbes correlated with body mass index (BMI) that are associated with key cancer-related pathways. Notably, BMI-associated microbial species such as <i>Pseudomonas fluorescens</i> and <i>Lactobacillus sakei</i> were linked with both pro-tumour and anti-tumour progression in cancer patients. Additionally, microbes found to be abundant in cancer and obese tissue, such as <i>Pseudomonas baetica</i>, were significantly associated with the upregulation of certain oncogenic signalling pathways. BMI-associated microbes were also correlated with chemokine signalling and TFR2/NFkB-related genes. Both of these have well-established roles in inflammatory activity and inflammasome expression, a critical step in obesity-related cancer progression. Therefore, these microbes were found to be associated with variations in disease prognosis and patient survival. This study provides new insights into how obesity-related microbiome dysbiosis may be associated with cancer development and aims to introduce novel potential avenues for precision medicine approaches in cancer treatment.