# Evaluating Etiological Impact of Metatranscriptomic and Immunological Features for Lung Cancer

> **NIH NIH R03** · BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE · 2022 · $80,000

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
There is increasing evidence that the evolution of cancer is strongly dependent on the complex tumor
microenvironment (TME) in which it develops. Despite the important roles of both microbiota and immune cells
within TME, there are huge gaps in linking specific lung-residing microbiota changes with immune cell
subpopulations. To date, no human lung cancer studies have been performed to characterize the host-pathogen
dynamic changes and dissecting the microbiome-immune interaction in an integrated manner.
We hypothesize that the dysbiosis of lung-residing microbe (microbiota expression changes) triggers
dysregulated balance in the lung immune system (immune cells infiltration levels), which results in an
inflammatory TME, and further promotes lung tumorigenesis and tumor progression. We propose to capitalize
on existing RNA-Seq (tumor and adjacent tissue) from 200 early-stage (I–IIIA) lung adenocarcinoma patients,
from a Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) study (discovery, n = 100) and a Harvard School of Public Health study
(external validation, n = 100), with no cost to this application. Our goal is to reveal the impact of the lung
microbiota on host immune cell profiles and how their interaction contributes to tumorigenesis and tumor
progression. To accomplish our goals, we will utilize a Dual RNA-Seq analytical approach: 1) to identity
intratumoral metatranscriptomic signatures, and 2) to characterize immune infiltration profiles and microbiome-
immune interaction. Specifically, the unmapped quality-filtered RNA reads (non-human, putative microbial reads)
aligned to microbial reference transcriptomes will be used for metatranscriptome analysis (Aim 1); whereas reads
that map to human reference will be used for computational immune profiling analysis (Aim 2).
This is the first study to simultaneously profile lung tissue-specific microbiota expression and immune infiltrates
in lung adenocarcinoma. This project could contribute significantly to our understanding of the biological
processes before/during (adjacent/tumor tissue) lung adenocarcinoma development, in particular the complex
microbiome-immune interaction. Elucidating the nature of interactions between lung microbiome and immune
cells comprising the TME could guide the development of novel therapeutic interventions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10437878
- **Project number:** 5R03CA262911-02
- **Recipient organization:** BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Yanhong Liu
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $80,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10437878

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10437878, Evaluating Etiological Impact of Metatranscriptomic and Immunological Features for Lung Cancer (5R03CA262911-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10437878. Licensed CC0.

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