Multi-omics analysis of microbiome ‘Kimchi” in cancer research

Abstract

The use of microbes has contributed significantly to the recent advances in immunotherapy for cancer. Accumulation of cancer-specific microbes in tumor tissue provides unique possibilities to come up with novel cancer therapy. Moreover, some studies suggested that probiotic bacteria are essential components in successful cancer immunotherapy due to their influence on immunomodulation. Probiotics existed naturally in our body in addition to fermented foods, and supplements are generally considered to provide health advantages. Recently, we observed that lactic acid bacteria, probiotics isolated from kimchi (Kimchi-LAB), have the potential to target and clear cancers grafted in several cancer models. In experiments using colon cancer and bladder cancer cell lines, the anti-cancer effect of Kimchi-LAB was confirmed. Kimchi-LAB mainly had the effect of killing cancer cells through apoptosis, and in animal experiments, it was observed that CD8+ T lymphocytes play an important role, and Kimchi-LAB also had the effect of strongly stimulating dendritic cells. In order to more comprehensively analyze these antitumor and immune-enhancing effects, multi-omics analysis was performed through bulk RNA-seq and single-cell RNA-seq analysis.