The immune response to a fungus in pancreatic cancer samples

Abstract

AbstractPancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a poor prognosis cancer with an .aggressive growth profile that is often diagnosed at late stage and that has few curative or therapeutic options. PDAC growth has been linked to alterations in the pancreas microbiome, which could include the presence of the fungusMalassezia. We used RNA-sequencing to compare 14 paired tumor and normal (tumor adjacent) pancreatic cancer samples and foundMalasseziaRNA in both the PDAC and normal tissues. Although the presence ofMalasseziawas not correlated with tumor growth, a set of immune- and inflammatory-related genes were up-regulated in the PDAC compared to the normal samples, suggesting that they are involved in tumor progression. Gene set enrichment analysis suggests that activation of the complement cascade pathway and inflammation could be involved in pro PDAC growth.