Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute
The expert minds tackling gastric cancers
Partnership at a glance
- Researchers from La Trobe University and the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI) are exploring how phages (viruses that kill bacteria) could improve stomach cancer treatment by targeting bacteria that live inside tumours
- ONJCRI’s Dr Michael Buchert studies how Fusobacterium nucleatum bacteria colonise gastrointestinal cancers, drive their progression and make them more resistant to chemotherapy
- At La Trobe University, Professor Joseph Tucci’s lab was the first to isolate a phage that kills F. nucleatum, and his team has pioneered phage-based treatments as a more precise alternative to antibiotics
- Their collaboration, funded by a Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute – La Trobe kickstarter program, aims to test phage therapy's potential to enhance chemotherapy and advance cancer treatment.
Case study
Can a virus that infects bacteria improve treatments for stomach cancer?
That’s the question experts from La Trobe University and the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI) are working to answer in a world-first project that could radically change treatment approaches for cancer patients.
As the La Trobe School of Cancer Medicine, ONJCRI fosters close collaboration between researchers and clinicians, to enable new scientific discoveries and translate them into beneficial cancer treatments.
It also means researchers with very different areas of expertise are more likely to work together – as is the case for La Trobe University pharmacist and microbiologist Professor Joseph Tucci and ONJCRI gastric cancer expert Dr Michael Buchert.
They were successfully awarded funding through the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute – La Trobe University Cancer Kickstarter Program to investigate an innovative new treatment option for notoriously aggressive gastric cancers.
Uniting cancer science, pharmacy and microbiology
Dr Buchert researches how certain cells, genes and proteins interact to cause gastrointestinal cancers, and how gut microbes may influence cancer development. He’s investigated a bacterial species called Fusobacterium nucleatum, which is commonly found in the mouth and is particularly abundant in periodontal disease.
“If you analyse human cancer samples from the stomach, you find evidence that bacteria are colonising the tumours, and many of these bacteria originate in the mouth,” Dr Buchert says.
“To treat them with an antibiotic doesn’t work: antibiotics can’t kill bacteria that are inside other cells. And we’ve shown that the tumours colonised with these bacteria are more resistant to chemotherapy.”
Professor Tucci’s lab, meanwhile, was the first in the world to isolate the phage that kills F. nucleatum bacteria. Could phages – viruses that infect and kill one specific bacteria species and nothing else – be the solution to treat these stubborn tumours?
Professor Tucci has spent years researching phage therapy and his lab was the first to formulate phages into pharmaceutical treatments like ointments, creams and lozenges.
He says using phages makes “a lot of sense” compared to antibiotics.
“Antibiotics are like using a shotgun to try and kill one type of target bacteria: you end up killing many thousands of other types of bacteria as well,” he says. “Phages are more like a sniper rifle because they are so specific.”
But no one has tried using phages to treat tumour-colonising bacteria before.
Collaborating ‘made perfect sense’
Dr Buchert and Professor Tucci have combined their expertise to further explore F. nucleatum’s role in driving stomach cancer and how phage therapy could be a game-changing addition to complement chemotherapy and improve its effectiveness.
“We’re the first in the world to publish any experimental work on phages and how they might control the growth of cancers. Now other researchers around the world are latching onto the idea as well.”
Professor Tucci says collaborating with Dr Buchert “made perfect sense” thanks to their complementary skills.
“Our skillset is in microbiology and phages, and Michael’s a cancer expert with models for testing anti-cancer drugs,” he says. “We work through problems to find solutions together. That’s how science should work.”
Both Dr Buchert and Prof Tucci credit the initial kickstarter program for bringing their teams together and enabling their initial experiments. They’re now moving to the next research phase and applying for larger National Health and Medical Research Council grants.
Dr Buchert admits there’s still scepticism around bacteria’s role in driving cancers, but believes this will change. If their research is successful, it could lead to better treatments and improved patient outcomes.
“We need to change the way people think about cancer,” he says.