COURSE UNIT TITLE

: MICROBIOME AND CANCER

Description of Individual Course Units

Course Unit Code Course Unit Title Type Of Course D U L ECTS
TRO 6012 MICROBIOME AND CANCER ELECTIVE 1 0 0 3

Offered By

Translational Oncology

Level of Course Unit

Third Cycle Programmes (Doctorate Degree)

Course Coordinator

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR GIZEM ÇALIBAŞI KOÇAL

Offered to

Translational Oncology
Translational Oncology

Course Objective

Microbes living in the human body - the human microbiome - can affect the initiation, progression of cancer, and response to treatment, including cancer immunotherapy. The mechanisms of action of the microbiome on cancer may offer advantages for new diagnostic and treatment options, but much is unknown in this respect. Because of the interactions between microbes, diet, host factors, drugs, and cell-cell interactions within the cancer itself are highly complex, and it cannot explain all of microbiome-based behavior. However, the development of next-generation sequencing technology has allowed the microbiome to be comprehensively studied, allowing the taxonomic and metabolomic relationships between the microbiome and cancer. It has been observed. In addition to being descriptive, these studies also help to reveal the mechanisms of biological processes that affect both the tumor microbiome and the microbiome of other host niches separated from the tumor. With the emergence of biomarker candidates that may be new therapeutic targets as a result of the demonstration of these relationships, trials for therapies that change the microbiome composition of cancer patients have begun to be investigated

Learning Outcomes of the Course Unit

1   Knows basic concepts such as microbiome, dysbiosis and metagenomics.
2   Have an idea about the microbiota of different organs and their contribution to cancer formation and progression
3   Knows the effects of diet and diet related metabolites on microbiota
4   Knows how the microbiome is involved in the basic processes of cancer.
5   Have an idea about microbiome-influenced cancer treatments or microbiome modulation based cancer therapies
6   Have an idea about microbiome analysis.

Mode of Delivery

Face -to- Face

Prerequisites and Co-requisites

None

Recomended Optional Programme Components

None

Course Contents

Week Subject Description
1 Microbiome, microbiota, cancer microbiome
2 The impact of dysbiosis on cancer development and progression
3 Metagenomics
4 Organ microbiota: Gastrointestinal cancers
5 Organ microbiota: Gynecological and Genitourinary System Cancers
6 Organ microbiota: Lung cancer
7 Organ microbiota: Skin cancers
8 Microbiota-derived metabolites and cancer
9 Effect of diet on microbiome and cancer
10 The effects of microenvironment on microbiome and cancer
11 Microbiome and metastasis
12 Microbiome and Cancer Treatment: Modulation of the Microbiome
13 Microbiome and Cancer Treatment: Microbiome and cancer immunotherapy
14 Microbiome and Cancer Treatment: Pharmacomicrobiomics (chemotherapeutic-microbiota interaction)
15 Microbiome analysis in the laboratory

Recomended or Required Reading

Microbiome and Cancer. 2019. Springer. Editors: Robertson, Erle S.
The Molecular Biology and Translational Medicine. The Microbiome in Health and Disease, Volume 171, 1st Edition. ISBN: 9780128200001. Editor: Jun Sun. 2020. Academic Press.
The Human Microbiota and Chronic Disease: Dysbiosis as a Cause of Human Pathology. Editor(s): Luigi Nibali, Brian Henderson. 2016. Wiley. ISBN:9781118982877
Fulbright LE, Ellermann M, Arthur JC. The microbiome and the hallmarks of cancer. PLoS Pathog. 2017 Sep 21;13(9):e1006480. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006480. PMID: 28934351; PMCID: PMC5608396.
Intestinal Microbiota in Health and Disease Modern Concepts. Edited By Eduardo J. Schiffrin, Philippe Marteau, Dominique Brassart. ISBN 9781482226768. 2014. CRC Press.
Wong, S.H., Yu, J. Gut microbiota in colorectal cancer: mechanisms of action and clinical applications. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 16, 690 704 (2019).
Krautkramer, K.A., Fan, J. & Bäckhed, F. Gut microbial metabolites as multi-kingdom intermediates. Nat Rev Microbiol (2020).
Roy, S., Trinchieri, G. Microbiota: a key orchestrator of cancer therapy. Nat Rev Cancer17, 271 285 (2017)
aniewski, P., Ilhan, Z.E. & Herbst-Kralovetz, M.M. The microbiome and gynaecological cancer development, prevention and therapy. Nat Rev Urol 17, 232 250 (2020).
Liu, NN., Ma, Q., Ge, Y. et al. Microbiome dysbiosis in lung cancer: from composition to therapy. npj Precis. Onc. 4, 33 (2020).
Tran, L., Xiao, JF., Agarwal, N. et al. Advances in bladder cancer biology and therapy. Nat Rev Cancer (2020).

Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods

Lectures, the topics with classroom activities (presentations and homework assignments) to consolidate and discussion

Assessment Methods

SORTING NUMBER SHORT CODE LONG CODE FORMULA
1 PRF PERFORMANCE
2 FIN FINAL EXAM
3 FCG FINAL COURSE GRADE PRF * 0.40 + FIN*0.60
4 RST RESIT
5 FCGR FINAL COURSE GRADE (RESIT) PRF * 0.40 + FCGR*0.60


Further Notes About Assessment Methods

None

Assessment Criteria

Defined LO1 and LO2 will be evaluated with mid-term exam.
Defined LO3, LO4, LO5, LO6 will be evaluated with homework and presentations prepared by students.

Language of Instruction

Turkish

Course Policies and Rules

To be announced.

Contact Details for the Lecturer(s)

gizem.calibasi@deu.edu.tr ; 0 232 412 58 35

Office Hours

Thursday 14:00-15:00

Work Placement(s)

None

Workload Calculation

Activities Number Time (hours) Total Work Load (hours)
Lectures 15 1 15
Preparations before/after weekly lectures 15 4 60
Final 1 1 1
TOTAL WORKLOAD (hours) 76

Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes

PO/LOPO.1PO.2PO.3PO.4PO.5PO.6PO.7PO.8PO.9PO.10PO.11PO.12
LO.155
LO.255
LO.355
LO.455
LO.555
LO.655