# Targeting tumoral Lactobacillus iners to improve outcomes in cervical cancers

> **NIH NIH R37** · UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR · 2024 · $660,742

## Abstract

Cervical cancer remains the second most common cancer killer of women worldwide, with an
annual incidence of more than 600,000 and an annual death rate of 300,000. Further, cervical
cancer disproportionately affects communities of medically underserved and minority women
within the US and abroad, and improved therapies are urgently needed. Primary and secondary
prevention approaches are also variably effective – even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, just 1
in 8 girls was vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV), the cause of 90% of cervical
cancers. Vaccination rates also dropped sharply during the pandemic, even in the United
States. Current World Health Organization (WHO) estimates of HPV vaccine uptake rates is
21%. The vast majority of cervical cancers that are diagnosed after primary and secondary
prevention fail are locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC). Approximately 40% of women
diagnosed with LACC will relapse and die of disease even with standard-of-care curative
treatment, cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy (CRT). CRT has remained the standard-of-care
for more than two decades, and novel approaches have failed to improve outcomes. We have
identified a critical prognostic factor, a bacteria called Lactobacillus iners (L. iners), in the
cervical tumor microbiome, which rewires tumor metabolism to utilize lactate and is associated
with treatment resistance and poor survival. Further, commensal Lactobacilli (lactic acid
bacteria) in other tumor sites often driven by lactate, such as head and neck and lung cancers,
also appear to lead to treatment resistance and poor survival. Our objective is to understand
specifically how L. iners and other lactic acid bacteria influence cancer cell and immune cell
metabolism using state-of-the-art proximity proteomics and mass cytometry (Aim 1). We will
also test novel therapeutic approaches to target either tumor resident bacteria by eliminating or
replacing specific bacterial species (Aim 2), or metabolic effects of tumor resident bacteria via
local bacterial engineering or systemic metabolism targeting anti-cancer therapies (Aim 3).
Targeting cervical tumor bacteria as a therapeutic (“Bugs as Drugs”) is a paradigm-shifting idea,
capitalizing on the relative simplicity of the cervicovaginal microbiome and its tendency to be
dominated by Lactobacillus species, and not only will this study lead to improved microbiome-
based therapeutics to improve outcomes in cervical cancer, but this proof-of-concept model
could be used to inform tumor microbiome-based therapeutics across cancer types.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10979840
- **Project number:** 1R37CA285794-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Lauren Elizabeth Colbert
- **Activity code:** R37 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $660,742
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-07-01 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10979840

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10979840, Targeting tumoral Lactobacillus iners to improve outcomes in cervical cancers (1R37CA285794-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10979840. Licensed CC0.

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