Investigating How Commensal Gut Bacteria and Their Products Promote Anti-Tumor Immunity

Date Created:

2025-08-09

Course Title:

Professor:

Shumeng Hao and Francesca Gazzaniga

About Paper:

Not every cancer patient responds to immunotherapy, and one reason may live in the gut. This project studies Erysipelatoclostridium ramosum, a commensal bacterium that helped overcome microbiome-linked resistance to immunotherapy in mice. The team found that bacterial pellets, rather than supernatants, boosted CD8 T cell proliferation and killing activity, with evidence pointing to NF-kB signaling. The takeaway is hopeful and concrete: specific microbes or microbial products may someday be tuned into therapies that help more patients mount strong anti-tumor immune responses. Source: 2025 Harvard Summer Undergraduate Research Village Abstract Book

Topics:

gut microbiome, CD8 T cells, immunotherapy, anti-tumor immunity

Co-authors:

@shumenghao84 , @francescagazzaniga85