Lightning Talk & Poster Presentation CD1-MR1 Workshop 2025

Patient-derived pancreatic tumor bacteria exhibit oncogenic properties and are recognized by MAIT cells in tumor spheroids (#14)

Michał J Sobkowiak 1 2 , Poojabahen Tajpara 2 , Katie Healy 3 , Sabrina Naud 2 , Beate Gündel 4 , Asif Halimi 5 6 , Zara A Khan 2 , Giorgio Gabarrini 2 , Sylvie Le Guyader 7 , Gabriela Imreh 7 , Julie A Reisz 8 , Marco Del Chiaro 9 , Angelo D'Alessandro 8 , Rainer Heuchel 4 , Matthias Löhr 4 , Volkan Özenci 3 , Margaret Sällberg Chen 1 2 10
  1. Division of Oral Diagnostics and Surgery, Department of Dental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  2. Division of Pathology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  3. Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  4. Pancreas Cancer Research Lab, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  5. Division of Surgery, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  6. Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Surgery, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
  7. Department of Medicine, Huddinge, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  8. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado, Aschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
  9. Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA
  10. Department of Cellular Therapy and Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation (CAST), Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge and Karolinska Comprehensive Cancer Center, Stockholm, Sweden

Tumor-residing microbiota poses a new challenge in cancer progression and therapy; however, the functional behavior of patient tumor-derived microbes remains poorly understood. We previously reported the presence of tumor microbiota in intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs), which are precursors of pancreatic cancer. Here, we examined the metabolic and pathogenic potential of clinical microbiota strains obtained from IPMN tumors using various pancreatic cell lines and 3D spheroid models. Our findings revealed that several strains from IPMNs with invasive cancer or high-grade dysplasia, such as Enterobacter cloacae, Enterococcus faecalis, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, induced a cancer metabolite signature in human pancreatic cells when infected ex vivo. Bacterial invasiveness was significantly correlated with DNA damage in spheroids derived from normal and tumor-derived pancreatic cells, particularly in strains derived from advanced neoplasia IPMN and under hypoxic conditions. Additionally, microbial metabolites activate human mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells and restrict the infection, both extra- and intracellularly, in hypoxic tumor conditions and in synergy with antibiotics. Immune sensing of tumor microbiota metabolites may have clinical implications in cancer management.