A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Characterization of intra-tumoral microbiota from transcriptomic sequencing of Asian breast cancer
Authors: Yeo, Li-Fang; Lee, Audrey Weng Yan; Tee, Phoebe Yon Ern; Chin, Joyce Seow Fong; Lee, Bernard K. B.; Lim, Joanna; Teo, Soo-Hwang; Pan, Jia-Wern
Publisher: Springer Nature
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Scientific Reports
Journal name in source: Scientific Reports
Article number: 31147
Volume: 15
eISSN: 2045-2322
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-15877-x
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-15877-x
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/499885713
The human microbiome has garnered significant interest in recent years as an important driver of human health and disease. Likewise, it has been suggested that the intra-tumoral microbiome may be associated with specific features of cancer such as tumour progression and metastasis. However, additional research is needed to validate these findings in diverse populations. In this study, we characterized the intra-tumoral microbiota of 883 Malaysian breast cancer patients using transcriptomic data from bulk tumours and investigated their association with clinical variables and immune scores. We found that the tumour microbiome was not associated with breast cancer molecular subtype, cancer stage, tumour grade, or patient age, but was weakly associated with immune scores. We also found that the tumour microbiome was associated with immune scores in our cohort using random forest models, suggesting the possibility of an interaction between the tumour microbiome and the tumour immune microenvironment in Asian breast cancer.
Downloadable publication This is an electronic reprint of the original article. |  |
Funding information in the publication:
Cancer Research Malaysia receives charitable funding from the Khind Starfish Foundation, the Ong Hin Tiang & Ong Sek Pek Foundation, Yayasan PETRONAS, and Yayasan Sime Darby which contributed to the funding of this study. LFY is currently a SYS-LIFE postdoc funded by the European Union´s Horizon Europe Framework programme for research and innovation 2021-2027 under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101126611.
