Gut microbes may help in recognising and treating pancreatic cancer
Researchers from HUS, the University of Helsinki, the Ģֱ, and from Iran have jointly made new observations about gut microbes associated with pancreatic cancer. The researchers analysed microbes living in the guts of Finnish and Iranian pancreatic cancer patients and their healthy peers. The study involved altogether more than 180 persons. The study is part of Doctoral Researcher Heidelinde Sammallahti’s doctoral dissertation research at the University of Helsinki.
The same gut microbes associated with pancreatic cancer were found in the patients irrespective of geographic location and ethnic background.
Pancreatic cancer patients’ intestinal flora included significantly more facultative pathogens and significantly less beneficial bacteria than in the healthy peer group.
In particular, beneficial bacteria belonging to the class of Clostridia, such as butyric acid–producing Lachnospiraceae, Butyricicoccaceae and Ruminococcaceae, had decreased.
Pancreatic cancer pathogens include, for example, Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcaceae and Fusobacteriaceae. The levels of these in pancreatic cancer patients’ intestinal flora were high.
Senior Lecturer Satu Pekkala from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, Ģֱ, summarises the research team’s shared view of the research findings:
“The findings on beneficial Clostridia are interesting because it has been shown earlier that ordinary Clostridiales populations effectively mediate anti-canceric immune reactions against solid tumours.”
The researchers accordingly point out that future research projects should investigate whether these could serve as a new generation of probiotics, that is, living microbic products, which could be combined with traditional chemotherapy medicines. This could provide a more targeted and effective approach to the control of pancreatic cancer, the researchers suggest, while they also emphasise the need for further research to confirm the present findings in different populations.
The researchers also developed a statistical model based on the microbiome, by means of which it could be possible to predict pancreatic cancer. It is a good first step to enable early recognition of pancreatic cancer in the future.
Original publication:
Sammallahti H (University of Helsinki, HUS), Rezasoltani S (RWTH Aachen University Hospital), Pekkala S (Ģֱ), Kokkola A (HUS), Asadzadeh Agdaei H (Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences), Azizmohhammad Looha M (Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences) , Ghanbari R (Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences), Zamani F (Iran University of Medical Sciences), Sadeghi A (Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences), Sarhadi VK (HUS), Tiirola M (JYU, BiopSense Oy), Puolakkainen P (HUS), Knuutila S (University of Helsinki). Fecal profiling reveals a common microbial signature for pancreatic cancer in Finnish and Iranian cohorts. Gut Pathog. 2025 Apr 16;17(1):24. DOI: 10.1186/s13099-025-00698-0.
Further information:
Satu Pekkala, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, Ģֱ
satu.p.pekkala@jyu.fi, 045 358 2898.
