Is There a Relationship Between Gut Microbiota and Pancreatic Cancer?

Pancreatic cancer is on track to become the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States by 2040, accounting for 49,830 deaths annually. A new study led by Drs. Mingyang Liu and Weiwei Jin, and published in BMC Cancer, sought to determine the relationship between pancreatic cancer and gut microbiota.

Prior research has demonstrated that the wide variety of microorganisms in gut microbiota and their secreted metabolites play an important role in pancreatic cancer. Despite this research, the causal effect between gut microbiota and pancreatic cancer was previously unknown.

Drs. Liu, Jin, and colleagues performed a 2-sample Mendelian randomization analysis to investigate the relationship between gut microbiota and pancreatic cancer. The study’s exposure factor was a genome-wide association study (GWAS) from the MiBioGen consortium, while the outcome factor was pancreatic cancer GWAS data from FinnGen. Investigators primarily used the inverse-variance weighted method.

Researchers reported that at the genus level, Senegalimassilia (odds ratio [OR], 0.635; 95% CI, 0.403-0.998; P=.049) demonstrated some effectiveness in preventing pancreatic cancer.

In contrast, Odoribacter (OR, 1.899; 95% CI, 1.157-3.116; P=.011), Ruminiclostridium 9 (OR, 1.976; 95% CI, 1.128-3.461; P=.017), Ruminococcaceae (UCG011; OR, 1.433; 95% CI, 1.072-1.916; P=.015), and Streptococcus (OR, 1.712; 95% CI, 1.071-1.736; P=.025) were causal factors for pancreatic cancer.

The completed analysis did not demonstrate any heterogeneity, horizontal pleiotropy, or reverse causality within the relationship between gut microbiota and pancreatic cancer.

The investigators concluded that there is possibly a causal effect between gut microbiota and pancreatic cancer, with Odoribacter, Ruminiclostridium 9, Ruminococcaceae (UCG011), and Streptococcus potentially leading to an elevated risk for pancreatic cancer. “However, further original studies are needed to more comprehensively elucidate the underlying mechanisms that govern the relationship between [gut microbiota] and [pancreatic cancer],” they wrote.