# Microbiome-based biomarkers and models of lung cancer development and treatment

> **NIH NIH R21** · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · 2022 · $231,413

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The microbiome has become an important focus of cancer research, including its role in prevention, diagnostics,
and mechanistic causation. However, there are still significant gaps in our understanding of the mechanisms and
molecular interactions (both microbe-microbe and microbe-host) that continue to hinder our abilities to develop
effective microbiome-based biomarkers for cancer outcomes or for using the microbiome as a target for cancer
treatment or prevention. For lung cancer there has been some recent progress studying the mechanistic role of
the microbiome in lung tumorigenesis, although lung cancer microbiome research has lagged behind progress
in other cancers.
Here we propose to use RNA-sequencing data from nasal samples of current and former smokers in combination
with state-of-the art computational modeling to develop effective biomarkers and explore the role of microbe-
microbe and microbe-host interactions in lung cancer. We will first develop and validate predictive biomarkers
for lung cancer using the microbiome and host gene expression. In the process, we will also characterize
microbe-microbe interactions associated with cancer status, and evaluate microbiome interactions with human
oncogenic and inflammatory pathways. We will also develop predictive models for assessing the impact of host
and microbial targeted therapies, as well as the impact of the transplantation of individual microbes or synthetic
communities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10366665
- **Project number:** 1R21CA260382-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS
- **Principal Investigator:** William Evan Johnson
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $231,413
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-12-08 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10366665

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10366665, Microbiome-based biomarkers and models of lung cancer development and treatment (1R21CA260382-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10366665. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*