Rhyothemis

Yesterday I revisited a question that occurred to me years ago - antibiotic use is associated with increased risk of breast cancer and AB use can also sometimes cause yeast infections / fungal overgrowth. Does fungal overgrowth have something to do with cancer?

As it turns out, there has been some recent work suggesting it might.

Fungal Association with Tumors May Predict Worse Outcomes
https://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2022/09/fungal-association-with-tumors-may-predict-worse-outcomes

Candida albicans Promotes Oral Cancer via IL-17A/IL-17RA-Macrophage Axis
https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00447-23

#fungi #yeast #Candida #cancer #health

Fungal Association with Tumors May Predict Worse Outcomes

The presence of some fungal species in tumors predicts—and may even help drive—worse cancer outcomes, according to a study from Weill Cornell Medicine and Duke University researchers.

WCM Newsroom
Aug 8, 2023 at 4:48pmWeb
Show threadBenjamin S-B Aug 8, 2023
@Rhyothemis FWIW, there's currently some hot debate over the validity of some of these "#mycobiome" associations with #cancer Not related to the Cell paper you referenced, but a high-profile one nevertheless: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06292-1
Revisiting the intrinsic mycobiome in pancreatic cancer - Nature

Nature
Show threadRhyothemisAug 8, 2023

@bensb

Thanks for the link. What a strange coincidence that the Fletcher et al. paper came out just as I was thinking about the topic again & thought I had found an answer. I guess I will have to wait longer to see what happens.

If I were to do a study I would take breast cancer tissue samples from patients and implant in mice & test various antifungals to see if there is a response. Of course, I suppose there could still be contamination issues.

Rapamycin has been investigated as a cancer treatment; it's interesting that it is both an mTOR inhibitor and antifungal. I wonder if 'cleaner' mTOR inhibitors are as effective for cancer.