Microbial communities influence host immune response
Microbes living in the host can influence cancer progression and treatment efficacy. Diet and drugs can disrupt microbiome diversity, and key species in the microbiome can cause local or systemic influences on host immunity.1,2
There is hope that future treatments may combine existing cancer therapies with methods to encourage growth of beneficial microbes or eliminate harmful ones. As NGS-based research continues to explore host-microbiome interactions, Illumina strives to evolve genomic technologies that complement and enable the promise of this field.
Cancer Immunotherapy and the Role of the Microbiome
Effectiveness of modern cancer immunotherapies is influenced by the composition of the gut microbiome.
Metagenomics enabled by NGS applications
NGS methods have revolutionized the study of the microbiome.3 Without the need to culture or clone individual organisms, NGS enables simultaneous analysis of thousands of species within a microbial community. With the development of bioinformatic tools to manage large volumes of new information, this shift from single organism analysis enables accurate assessment of species diversity and measurement of dynamic fluctuations in microbial communities.
The Microbiome Emerges as a Key Player in Cancer
An overview of how the microbiome influences cancer and immunotherapy, and the role NGS plays to help advance research in this expanding field.
NGS is Revealing the Mysteries of the Microbiome
Researchers at Microba are investigating the genomes of microbes to improve our understanding of human health, disease, and microbial evolution.
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Cancer Microbiome Analysis Workflow
With high throughput and high sensitivity, NGS enables the identification of thousands of microbial species in a single sample.
Click on the below to view products for each workflow step.
TruSeq Stranded Total RNA Library Prep Kit
Streamlined, cost-efficient, and scalable solution for total RNA analysis.
Nextera XT Library Prep KitPrepare sequencing ready libraries of bacteria, viruses, and other microbes to analyze transcriptome and metatranscriptome information.
TruSeq DNA PCR-Free Library Preparation Kits
Simple, all-inclusive library preparation for whole-genome sequencing applications. Researchers can sequence a wide variety of organisms, from small genomes such as bacteria to whole-human genomes.
Desktop Sequencing Systems
MiSeq SystemSpeed, accuracy and simplicity for far reaching applications in microbiology.
NextSeq SeriesFlexible desktop sequencer for transcriptome and whole-genome sequencing.
High-Throughput Sequencing Systems
Power for high-throughput microbial transcriptomics and flexibility to scale based on your project or workflow needs.
HiSeq 4000 SystemHigh throughput and low cost for production-scale genomics.
16S Metagenomics
Performs taxonomic classification of 16S rRNA targeted amplicon reads using an Illumina-curated version of the GreenGenes taxonomic database.
Kraken MetagenomicsAssigns taxonomic labels to short DNA sequences with high sensitivity and speed using exact alignment of k-mers and a novel classification algorithm.
MetaPhlAn
The Metagenomic Phylogenetic Analysis (MetaPhlAn) tool profiles microbial community composition from metagenomic shotgun sequencing data.
QIIME Preprocessing and QIIME VisualizationsQuantitative Insights into Microbial Ecology (QIIME) is designed to take users from raw sequencing data to publication quality graphics and statistics.
Featured Publications
Commensal Bifidobacterium promotes antitumor immunity and facilitates anti-PD-L1 efficacy.
Science 350 1084-9 2015
Anticancer immunotherapy by CTLA-4 blockade relies on the gut microbiota.
Science 350 1079-84 2015
Microbiome and Anticancer Immunosurveillance.
Cell 165 276-87 2016
Related Solutions
16S rRNA Sequencing
16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequencing targets a genetic marker found in all bacteria. 16S rRNA sequencing is a well established method for studying phylogeny and taxonomy of samples from complex microbiomes.
Shotgun Metagenomic Sequencing
Shotgun metagenomic sequencing assesses all genomic content in a microbial sample for species identification and functional analysis. High sequence coverage enables detection of low abundance members of the microbiome.
Metatranscriptome Analysis
Metatranscriptome analysis applies RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) to microbial samples to determine which species are there, what they are expressing, and how they respond to changes in the environment.
Additional Resources
Overview: NGS for Microbiology
View an introduction to NGS and its applications for microbiology.
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References
- Zama D, Biagi E, Masetti R, et al. Gut microbiota and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: where do we stand? Bone Marrow Transplant. 2017;52 (1):7-14.
- Schwabe R, Jobin C. The microbiome and cancer. Nat Rev Cancer. 2013;13 (11):800-812.
- Franzosa EA, Hsu T, Sirota-Madi A, et al. Sequencing and beyond: integrating molecular 'omics' for microbial community profiling. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2015;13(6):360-372.