Can the intratumoural microbiome signature be used to identify the tissue of origin in CUP?
In 2021 we made a grant to Imperial College, London for research led by Dr Mark Lythgoe (pictured) to analyse the Intratumoural Microbiome in CUP and explore diagnostic and biomarker utility. The researchers are collaborating with the Weizmann Institute. By correlating the microbiome signature with therapy outcomes it is hoped to identify the effect that intratumoural bacteria may have on therapy efficacy as well as identifying whether CUP has a distinct intratumoural signature.They are presently identifying the 50 banked tissue samples, which meet the required criteria, needed to run the initial analysis.