Publications

Diet-driven microbial ecology underpins associations between cancer immunotherapy outcomes and the gut microbiome. 
Nat Med. 2022 Sep 22; Online ahead of print. doi: 10.1038/s41591-022-01965-2. PubMed PMID: 36138151. Simpson RC, Shanahan ER, Batten M, Reijers ILM, Read M, Silva IP, Versluis JM, Ribeiro R, Angelatos AS, Tan J, Adhikari C, Menzies AM, Saw RPM, Gonzalez M, Shannon KF, Spillane AJ, Velickovic R, Lazar AJ, Damania AV, Mishra AK, Chelvanambi M, Banerjee A, Ajami NJ, Wargo JA, Macia L, Holmes AJ, Wilmott JS, Blank CU, Scolyer RA, Long GV.

Fusobacterium is enriched in oral cancer and promotes induction of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1).
Neoplasia. 2022 Sep;31:100813. doi: 10.1016/j.neo.2022.100813. PubMed PMID: 35834946. Michikawa C, Gopalakrishnan V, Harrandah AM, Karpinets TV, Garg RR, Chu RA, Park YP, Chukkapallia SS, Yadlapalli N, Erikson-Carter KC, Gleber-Netto FO, Sayour E, Progulske-Fox A, Chan EKL, Wu X, Zhang J, Jobin C, Wargo JA, Pickering CR, Myers JN, Silver N. 

Microbiome dynamics during chemoradiotherapy for anal cancer.
Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2022 May 2;S0360-3016(2)00396-0. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2022.04.037.  PubMed PMID: 35513187. Lin D, El Alam MB, Jaoude JA, Kouzy R, Phan JL, Elnaggar JH, Resendiz B, Delgado Medrano AY, Lynn EJ, Nguyen ND, Noticewala SS, Mathew GG, Holliday EB, Minsky BD, Das P, Morris VK, Eng C, Mezzari MP, Petrosino JF, Ajami NJ, Klopp AH, Taniguchi CM, Colbert LE. 

Immunotherapy response-associated Akkermansia: canary in a coal mine?.
Trends Immunol. 2022 May;43(5):337-339. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2022.03.007. PubMed PMID: 35397955. Cascone T, Chelvanambi M, Wargo JA.

Gut microbes as biomarkers of ICI response - sharpening the focus.
Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2022 Apr 21; Online ahead of print. doi: 10.1038/s41571-022-00634-0.  PubMed PMID: 35449306. Bhutiani N, Wargo JA. 

Glioma and the gut-brain axis: opportunities and future perspectives.
Neurooncol Adv. 2022 Apr 14;4(1):vdac054. doi: 10.1093/noajnl/vdac054. PubMed PMID: 35591978. Dono A, Nickles J, Rodrigue-Armendariz AG, McFarland BC, Ajami NJ, Ballester LY, Wargo JA, Esquenazi Y. 

Targeting the gut and tumor microbiota in cancer. 
Nat Med. 2022 Apr;28(4):690-703. doi: 10.1038/s41591-022-01779-2. PubMed PMID: 35440726. Park EM, Chelvanambi M, Bhutiani N, Kroemer G, Zitvogel L, Wargo JA. 

Dietary fiber and probiotics influence the gut microbiome and melanoma immunotherapy response.
Science. 2021 Dec 24;374(6575):1632-1640. doi: 10.1126/science.aaz7015. Epub 2021 Dec 23. PubMed PMID: 34941392. Spencer CN, McQuade JL, Gopalakrishnan V, McCulloch JA, Vetizou M, Cogdill AP, Khan MAW, Zhang X, White MG, Peterson CB, Wong MC, Morad G, Rodgers T, Badger JH, Helmink BA, Andrews MC, Rodrigues RR, Morgun A, Kim YS, Roszik J, Hoffman KL, Zheng J, Zhou Y, Medik YB, Kahn LM, Johnson S, Hudgens CW, Wani K, Gaudreau PO, Harris AL, Jamal MA, Baruch EN, Perez-Guijarro E, Day CP, Merlino G, Pazdrak B, Lochmann BS, Szczepaniak-Sloane RA, Arora R, Anderson J, Zobniw CM, Posada E, Sirmans E, Simon J, Haydu LE, Burton EM, Wang L, Dang M, Clise-Dwyer K, Schneider S, Chapman T, Anang NAS, Duncan S, Toker J, Malke JE, Glitza IC, Amaria RN, Tawbi HA, Diab A, Wong MK, Patel SP, Woodman SE, Davies MA, Ross MI, Gershenwald JE, Lee JE, Hwu P, Jensen V, Samuels Y, Straussman R, Ajami NJ, Nelson KC, Nezi L, Petrosino JF, Futreal PA, Lazar AJ, Hu J, Jenq RR, Tetzlaff MT, Yan Y, Garrett WS, Huttenhower C, Sharma P, Watowich SS, Allison JP, Cohen L, Trinchieri G, Daniel CR, Wargo JA.

Nodal immune flare mimics nodal disease progression following neoadjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer.
Nat Commun. 2021 Aug 19;12(1):5045. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25188-0. PubMed PMID: 34413300; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8376947. Cascone T, Weissferdt A, Godoy MCB, William WN Jr, Leung CH, Lin HY, Basu S, Yadav SS, Pataer A, Mitchell KG, Khan MAW, Shi Y, Haymaker C, Solis LM, Parra ER, Kadara H, Wistuba II, Sharma P, Allison JP, Ajami NJ, Wargo JA, Jenq RR, Gibbons DL, Lee JJ, Swisher SG, Vaporciyan AA, Heymach JV, Sepesi B.

Gut microbiota signatures are associated with toxicity to combined CTLA-4 and PD-1 blockade. Nat Med. 2021 Aug;27(8):1432-1441. doi:10.1038/s41591-021-01406-6. Epub 2021 Jul 8. PubMed PMID: 34239137. Andrews MC, Duong CPM, Gopalakrishnan V, Iebba V, Chen WS, Derosa L, Khan MAW, Cogdill AP, White MG, Wong MC, Ferrere G, Fluckiger A, Roberti MP, Opolon P, Alou MT, Yonekura S, Roh W, Spencer CN, Curbelo IF, Vence L, Reuben A, Johnson S, Arora R, Morad G, Lastrapes M, Baruch EN, Little L, Gumbs C, Cooper ZA, Prieto PA, Wani K, Lazar AJ, Tetzlaff MT, Hudgens CW, Callahan MK, Adamow M, Postow MA, Ariyan CE, Gaudreau PO, Nezi L, Raoult D, Mihalcioiu C, Elkrief A, Pezo RC, Haydu LE, Simon JM, Tawbi HA, McQuade J, Hwu P, Hwu WJ, Amaria RN, Burton EM, Woodman SE, Watowich S, Diab A, Patel SP, Glitza IC, Wong MK, Zhao L, Zhang J, Ajami NJ, Petrosino J, Jenq RR, Davies MA, Gershenwald JE, Futreal PA, Sharma P, Allison JP, Routy B, Zitvogel L, Wargo JA.

Diversity and composition of gut microbiome of cervical cancer patients: Do results of 16S rRNA sequencing and whole genome sequencing approaches align?. J Microbiol Methods. 2021 Jun;185:106213. doi: 10.1016/j.mimet.2021.106213. Epub 2021 Mar 27. PubMed PMID: 33785357; NIHMSID:NIHMS1702347. Biegert G, El Alam MB, Karpinets T, Wu X, Sims TT, Yoshida-Court K, Lynn EY, Yue J, Medrano AD, Petrosino J, Mezzari MP, Ajami NJ, Solley T, Ahmed-Kaddar M, Klopp AH, Colbert LE.

Alterations of the Oral Microbiome and Cumulative Carbapenem Exposure Are Associated With Stenotrophomonas maltophilia Infection in Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia Receiving Chemotherapy. Clin Infect Dis. 2021 May 4;72(9):1507-1513. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa778. PubMed PMID: 32544947; PudMed Central PMCID: PMC8096257. Aitken SL, Sahasrabhojane PV, Kontoyiannis DP, Savidge TC, Arias CA, Ajami NJ, Shelburne SA, Galloway-Pena JR.

A prospective study of the adaptive changes in the gut microbiome during standard-of-care chemoradiotherapy for gynecologic cancers. PLoS One. 2021;16(3):e0247905. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247905. eCollection 2021. PubMed PMID: 33662003; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7932122. El Alam MB, Sims TT, Kouzy R, Biegert GWG, Jaoude JABI, Karpinets TV, Yoshida-Court K, Wu X, Delgado-Medrano AY, Mezzari MP, Ajami NJ, Solley T, Ahmed-Kaddar M, Lin LL, Ramondetta L, Jazaeri A, Jhingran A, Eifel PJ, Schmeler KM, Wargo J, Klopp AH, Colbert LE.

Neoadjuvant nivolumab or nivolumab plus ipilimumab in operable non-small cell lung cancer: the phase 2 randomized NEOSTAR trial. Nat Med. 2021 Mar;27(3):504-514. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-01224-2. Epub 2021 Feb 18. PubMed PMID: 33603241; NIHMSID:NIHMS1709525. Cascone T, William WN Jr, Weissferdt A, Leung CH, Lin HY, Pataer A, Godoy MCB, Carter BW, Federico L, Reuben A, Khan MAW, Dejima H, Francisco-Cruz A, Parra ER, Solis LM, Fujimoto J, Tran HT, Kalhor N, Fossella FV, Mott FE, Tsao AS, Blumenschein G Jr, Le X, Zhang J, Skoulidis F, Kurie JM, Altan M, Lu C, Glisson BS, Byers LA, Elamin YY, Mehran RJ, Rice DC, Walsh GL, Hofstetter WL, Roth JA, Antonoff MB, Kadara H, Haymaker C, Bernatchez C, Ajami NJ, Jenq RR, Sharma P, Allison JP, Futreal A, Wargo JA, Wistuba II, Swisher SG, Lee JJ, Gibbons DL, Vaporciyan AA, Heymach JV, Sepesi B.

Gut microbiome diversity is an independent predictor of survival in cervial cancer patients receiving chemoradiation. Commun Biol. 2021 Feb 22;4(1):237. doi:10.1038/s42003-021-01741-x. PubMed PMID: 33619320. Sims TT, Alam MB, Karpinets TV, Dorta-Estremera S, Hegde VL, Nookala S, Yoshida-Court K, Wu X, Biegert GWG, Delgado Medrano AY, Solley T, Ahmed-Kaddar M, Chapman BV, Sastry KJ, Mezzari MP, Petrosino JF, Lin LL, Ramondetta L, Jhingran A, Schmeler KM, Ajami NJ, Wargo JA, Colbert LE, Klopp AH.

Human Biofield Therapy Modulates Tumor Microenvironment and Cancer Stemness in Mouse Lung Carcinoma. Integr Cancer Ther. 2020 Jan-Dec;19:1534735420940398. doi: 10.1177/1534735420940398. PubMed PMID: 32975128; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7522816. Yang P, Rhea PR, Conway T, Nookala S, Hegde V, Gagea M, Ajami NJ, Harribance SL, Ochoa J, Sastry JK, Cohen L. 

Fecal microbiota transplant promotes response in immunotherapy-refractory melanoma patients. Science. 2020 Dec 10;. doi: 10.1126/science.abb5920. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 33303685, Baruch EN, Youngster I, Ben-Betzalel G, Ortenberg R, Lahat A, Katz L, Adler K, Dick-Necula D, Raskin S, Bloch N, Rotin D, Anafi L, Avivi C, Melnichenko J, Steinberg-Silman Y, Mamtani R, Harati H, Asher N, Shapira-Frommer R, Brosh-Nissimov T, Eshet Y, Ben-Simon S, Ziv O, Khan MAW, Amit M, Ajami NJ, Barshack I, Schachter J, Wargo JA, Koren O, Markel G, Boursi B.  

Gut Microbes' Impact on Oncogenic Drivers: Location Matters. Mol Cell. 2020 Sep 17;79(6):878-880. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2020.08.021.PMID: 32946762, White MG, Wargo JA.

Modulating gut microbes. Science. 2020 Sep 11;369(6509):1302-1303. doi: 10.1126/science.abc3965. PMID: 32913089, Wargo JA. 

Can we harness the microbiota to enhance the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy?, Nat Rev Immunol. 2020 Sep;20(9):522-528. doi: 10.1038/s41577-020-0374-6. Epub 2020 Jul 13. PMID: 32661409, Finlay BB, Goldszmid R, Honda K, Trinchieri G, Wargo J, Zitvogel L.

Gut Microbiome Modulation Via Fecal Microbiota Transplant to Augment Immunotherapy in Patients with Melanoma or Other Cancers,  Curr Oncol Rep. 2020 Jun 24;22(7):74. doi: 10.1007/s11912-020-00913-y.PMID: 32577835, McQuade JL, Ologun GO, Arora R, Wargo JA.

Uncovering the role of the gut microbiota in immune checkpoint blockade therapy: A mini-review, Semin Hematol, 2020 Jan;57(1):13-18. doi: 10.1053/j.seminhematol.2020.05.002. Epub 2020 May 19.PMID: 32690139, Halsey T, Ologun G, Wargo J, Jenq RR.

The human tumor microbiome is composed of tumor type-specific intracellular bacteria. Science. 2020 May 29;368(6494):973-980. doi: 10.1126/science.aay9189.PMID: 32467386, Nejman D, Livyatan I, Fuks G, Gavert N, Zwang Y, Geller LT, Rotter-Maskowitz A, Weiser R, Mallel G, Gigi E, Meltser A, Douglas GM, Kamer I, Gopalakrishnan V, Dadosh T, Levin-Zaidman S, Avnet S, Atlan T, Cooper ZA, Arora R, Cogdill AP, Khan MAW, Ologun G, Bussi Y, Weinberger A, Lotan-Pompan M, Golani O, Perry G, Rokah M, Bahar-Shany K, Rozeman EA, Blank CU, Ronai A, Shaoul R, Amit A, Dorfman T, Kremer R, Cohen ZR, Harnof S, Siegal T, Yehuda-Shnaidman E, Gal-Yam EN, Shapira H, Baldini N, Langille MGI, Ben-Nun A, Kaufman B, Nissan A, Golan T, Dadiani M, Levanon K, Bar J, Yust-Katz S, Barshack I, Peeper DS, Raz DJ, Segal E, Wargo JA, Sandbank J, Shental N, Straussman R.

Gut Microbiome Modulates Response to Cancer Immunotherapy. Dig Dis Sci. 2020 Mar;65(3):885-896. doi: 10.1007/s10620-020-06111-x.PMID: 32067144, Khan MAW, Ologun G, Arora R, McQuade JL, Wargo JA. 

AI finds microbial signatures in tumours and blood across cancer types. Nature. 2020 Mar;579(7800):502-503. doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-00637-w. PubMed PMID: 32161344, Ajami NJ, Wargo JA. 

April 21, 2021: The Microbiome in Cancer: Minimizing the Hype and Illuminating the Hope. Selected talk from 2021 AACR Annual Meeting. Wargo JA. 

May 5, 2020: Life in the Time of COVID-19. Oncology Times. Kantarjian H, Welch MA, Kornblau S, DiNardo A, Ajami NJ.

April 13, 2020: Looking for Light at the End of the COVID-19 Tunnel. Baker Institute Blog. Kantarjian H, Welch MA, Ajami NJ. 

April 7, 2020: The Importance of Widespread COVID-19 Testing in Houston and the Texas Medical Center. Baker Institute Blog. Kantarjian H, Ajami NJ, DiNardo A.