Experimental and Molecular Medicine (Sep 2020)

Brain tumor diagnostic model and dietary effect based on extracellular vesicle microbiome data in serum

  • Jinho Yang,
  • Hyo Eun Moon,
  • Hyung Woo Park,
  • Andrea McDowell,
  • Tae-Seop Shin,
  • Young-Koo Jee,
  • Sungmin Kym,
  • Sun Ha Paek,
  • Yoon-Keun Kim

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s12276-020-00501-x
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 52, no. 9
pp. 1602 – 1613

Abstract

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Brain cancer: Investigating the gut microbiome The gut microbiome affects brain health via tiny packets of microbial metabolites called extracellular vesicles (EVs) that are small enough to pass through the blood–brain barrier. The brain was thought to be sheltered from the microbiome’s effect on health by this barrier, which blocks microbes from entering the brain via the blood. Yoon-Keun Kim at MD Healthcare Inc. and Sun Ha Paek at Seoul National University, both in Seoul, South Korea, and co-workers compared the EVs in the blood of brain cancer patients and healthy individuals, and found the two groups harbored different types of microbes. Feeding mice brown rice oil, sorghum, and garlic markedly shifted their EV profiles towards those of the healthy microbiome. These results provide a foundation for investigating new methods for brain cancer risk assessment and dietary interventions to reduce that risk.