# Investigation of the Carcinogenic Effects of Bactericidal Antibiotics in the Gut

> **NIH NIH K00** · HARVARD UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $89,312

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Colitis-associated cancer (CAC) refers to the pathological transition from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to
colorectal cancer (CRC). Burgeoning evidence suggests that the abnormal intercellular crosstalk between the
gut microbiome and inflammatory host cells is highly associated with the development of CAC. Thus, mapping
the microbial signature and epithelial plasticity in response to the host-microbiome intercellular crosstalk is critical
to mechanistically decipher the role of gut microbiome on the CAC pathogenicity. However, current animal
models neither reflect the heterogeneous genetic variants in CAC patients nor quantitatively visualize host-
microbiome molecular crosstalk in a spatiotemporal manner. In vitro co-culture models lack the long-term stability
to perform a longitudinal host-microbiome study that is necessary to investigate the pathological intercellular
crosstalk. Hence, developing a patient-specific CAC model that can quantitatively assess the cellular and
molecular signature of host-microbiome crosstalk is a critical unmet need to map the pathological host-gut
microbiome crosstalk and unravel their cause vs. consequence in CAC. The long-term goal of the outlined
research is to develop transformative and implementable engineered cancer model systems that encompass
cancer-microbiome crosstalk. In the F99 phase of this proposed research, a patient-specific CAC-on-a-chip
model will be developed by utilizing a cutting-edge human organ-on-a-chip technology. The effects of gut
microbiome in the development of CAC will be investigated using this model system. In the K00 phase, single-
cell analysis and multi-omics approach will be incorporated into the personalized CAC model for a higher
resolution and comprehensive study of the underlying molecular and cellular mechanism of the defined host-
microbiome intercellular interactions. By mapping crosstalk between cancer and microbiome, complicated
cancer pathobiology will be dissected and manipulated to answer the pressing questions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10314216
- **Project number:** 4K00CA245801-03
- **Recipient organization:** HARVARD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Woojung Shin
- **Activity code:** K00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $89,312
- **Award type:** 4N
- **Project period:** 2021-02-01 → 2025-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10314216

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10314216, Investigation of the Carcinogenic Effects of Bactericidal Antibiotics in the Gut (4K00CA245801-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10314216. Licensed CC0.

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