Host–microbiota interaction during cancer progression from bulk to single-cell level

Background

Cancer, a global threat to human health, refers to a large crowd of lethal diseases that can start in almost all tissues or organs of our body when abnormal cells grow uncontrollably and beyond their usual boundaries, followed by invading adjacent normal tissues and spreading to distant organs. Recently, substantial evidence has demonstrated polymorphic microbiome as an emerging cancer characteristic present in a variety of tumour types. By releasing metabolites or other signalling molecules, microbiota can affect immune cell differentiation and activity, including both innate and adaptive immunological responses, as well as the growth and multiplication of cancer cells. It was now employed as a biomarker to predict the patients’ survival rate and the degree of cancer progression.

Main

To investigate the underlying mechanism and the technology development of how polymorphic microbiome influence the tumour microenvironment and subsequently cancer progression, we have carried out systematic literature review about polymorphic microbiome and tumour development from bulk to single-cell level.

Conclusions

Here, we provide an overview of the current advancements of host–microbiota interactions during cancer progression from bulk to single-cell level and discuss the challenges and opportunities in future, looking forward to ascertain the specific activity of different somatic cell types with or without the existence of various multi-kingdom microbiota and their by-products and supply a holistic and elaborate investigation of host-microbiota interaction in the development of cancer.