A microbial chromatin remodeler drives gastric cancer progression and immune evasion by reprogramming the host epigenome.
Streptococcus anginosus promotes gastric cancer progression and immune evasion through a chromatin remodeler-mediated epigenetic reprogramming, with 50% of tumors enriched in this bacterium.
- Why it matters: Gastric cancer treatment faces challenges due to resistance to PD-1 blockade combined with chemotherapy, underscoring the need to understand tumor-promoting mechanisms and improve immunotherapy outcomes.
- What they did: Researchers identified SA as a tumor-resident bacterium that delivers saSNF2 via extracellular vesicles into host cells, activating oncogenic transcription through TEAD1 and upregulating ZDHHC11 to stabilize PD-L1.
- The result: Targeting the saSNF2-ZDHHC11 pathway reverses immune evasion and enhances anti-PD-1 therapy, revealing a new approach to improve immunotherapy efficacy in gastric cancer.