Pan-cancer analyses reveal cancer-type-specific fungal ecologies and bacteriome interactions

Cancer-microbe associations have been explored for centuries, but cancer-associated fungi have rarely been examined. Here, we comprehensively characterize the cancer mycobiome within 17,401 patient tissue, blood, and plasma samples across 35 cancer types in four independent cohorts. We report fungal DNA and cells at low abundances across many major human cancers, with differences in community compositions that differ among cancer types, even when accounting for technical background. Fungal histological staining of tissue microarrays supported intratumoral presence and frequent spatial association with cancer cells and macrophages. Comparing intratumoral fungal communities with matched bacteriomes and immunomes…

• UO
  University of California
• WI
  Weizmann Institute of Science
• US
  United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation

  Award: 2013332
• IS
  Israel Science Foundation

  Award: 2927/21
• RT
  Rising Tide Foundation
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Award: DP1AT010885
• H2
  Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
• ER
  European Research Council
• H2
  Horizon 2020
• NC
  National Cancer Institute

  Awards: F30 CA243480, U24 CA248454, R01 CA255206
• HE
  H2020 European Research Council

  Award: 818086