Ubaldo A. Soto-Wegner, PhD

Research Interest

Breast Cancer and the Microbiome

The role of the microbiome in human heath is easy to understand in organs such as the gastrointestinal tract, the mouth, and other body parts where multiple bacterial strains have been identified. However, it is less intuitive to assign a role to the microbiome in so-called "sterile organs", organs that have traditionally been considered free of microorganisms. However, recently, the role of the microbiome in sterile organs has received attention, mainly due to data obtained through DNA sequencing of these organs, where multiple sequences assigned to different bacterial strains have been found. One of the functions that has been assigned to the microbiome in these organs is it pottential contribution to cancer development.

In my laboratory, we have developed in vitro methods to study the potential role of bacteria in the development of breast cancer. We used cultured cells classified into three categories: (i) normal breast cells (MCFA10A), (ii) precancerous breast cells (MCF10AT), and (iii) cancerous breast cells (MCF10DCIS). We also cultured bacteria whose sequences were preferentially found in normal breast tissue (Lactobacillus casei and Lactococcus lactis) or cancerous breast tissue (Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis). By incubating  breast cell lines with the aforementioned bacteria or with conditioned media from these bacteria, we were able to study the intracellular bacterial invasion capacity and the effect of the bacteria or the conditioned media on altering gene expression in the various breast cell line studied.

We hope that these studies will contribute to undertsanding the potential role of the breast microbiota in cancer development.