In a new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, researchers found bacteria from the digestive system seem to have the potential to cause damage to pancreatic cells, increasing the risk of malignant tumors.
They analyzed live bacteria from cystic pancreatic lesions that are precursors to pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive and deadly forms of cancer. Because it can have vague symptoms, if any, in its early stages, it is usually discovered late, by which time it has spread.
Consequently, at the time of diagnosis, the disease has become terminal in the majority of patients.
Cystic lesions, including intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs), of the pancreas are common.
Because they are known as precursors to pancreatic cancer, many patients need regular, lifelong check-ups, and a few can also require surgery.
It would be valuable for the individual and for healthcare to know more about the carcinogenic risk factors.
In the study, the team was able to capture living pancreatic bacteria to study them in the laboratory.
They have analyzed the cystic fluid from 29 patients who underwent surgery for cystic pancreatic tumors between 2018 and 2019.
Their results showed an overrepresentation of Gammaproteobacteria and another class of bacterium called Bacilli.
These bacteria reside normally in the digestive tract and have previously been shown to promote cancer drug resistance by interfering with the effect of gemcitabine, a cytostatic drug used in pancreatic cancer treatment.
On further study in the laboratory, the researchers found that many of these bacteria could infect and even hide within the pancreatic cells, with harmful consequences.
Some bacteria could cause double-stranded DNA breakage which is considered the first step of cellular lesion and cancer.
The team also found that antibiotics could prevent damage to the DNA. The findings not only confirm that bacteria play an important part in the development of cancer, they also illuminate new ways to attack the process.
The question of how digestive tract bacteria enter the pancreas to then hide in its cells remains to be answered.
If you care about pancreatic cancer, please read studies about this herb may help treat pancreatic cancer and findings of a new therapy to kill pancreatic cancer from within.
For more information about pancreatic cancer, please see recent studies about this new type of diabetes can be an early sign of pancreatic cancer and results showing that this study finds a big cause of common pancreatic cancer.
The study is published in Gut Microbes. One author of the study is Margaret Sällberg Chen.
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