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    • What is cancer?
    • Types of cancer
      • Bowel cancer
      • Blood cancers
      • Breast cancer
      • Lung cancer
      • Melanoma
      • Prostate cancer
      • View 45 other cancers
    • Coping with a diagnosis
      • Coping with emotions
      • Tests and scans
      • Talking to kids about cancer
      • Cancer and your finances
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      • Radiation therapy
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      • Immunotherapy
      • Targeted therapy
      • Hormone therapy
      • Clinical trials
      • Palliative treatment
    • Managing side effects
      • Fatigue
      • Taste and smell changes
      • Heart health and cancer
      • Hair loss
      • Pain and cancer
      • Peripheral neuropathy
      • Changes in thinking and memory
      • Lymphoedema
      • Mouth health
      • Nutrition and cancer
      • Breast prostheses and reconstruction
      • Fertility
      • Sexuality
    • Supporting someone with cancer
      • Caring for someone with cancer
      • Caring for someone with advanced cancer
      • Family and friends
      • Supportive schools
      • Supportive workplaces
      • Caring for mob with cancer
    • Living well during and after treatment
      • Nutrition and cancer
      • Exercise and cancer
      • Complementary therapies
      • Living well after treatment
    • Advanced cancer
      • Living with advanced cancer
      • Caring for someone with advanced cancer
      • Palliative care
      • Facing end of life
      • Coping with grief
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      • Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples
      • Resources in different languages
      • Easy Read resources
      • Resources for LGBTQI+ people
    • Fact sheets, podcasts and more
      • Cancer resource hub – fact sheets, booklets and more
      • Cancer Council Podcasts
  • Get Support
    Our cancer helpline consultants are ready for your call to support all people impacted by cancer. We may be able to assist with direct support services or by putting you in touch with other people who can support you.
    • 13 11 20 – Speak to a cancer professional
    • How can we help you
      • Accommodation during treatment
      • Cancer Counselling
      • Financial Support
      • Legal & Workplace Support
      • Transport to treatment
      • Support after treatment
    • Connect with others
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    • Coping with a diagnosis
      • Coping with emotions
      • Talking to kids about cancer
      • Cancer and your finances
      • Cancer and work
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    • Health care professionals
    • Cancer stories
    • Cancer podcasts
    • Meditation and relaxation podcasts
  • Preventing Cancer
    Discover lifestyle choices to minimise your risk of getting cancer and the importance of screening and early detection for cancer survival.
    • Healthy diet and exercise
      • Limit alcohol
      • Be a healthy weight
      • Move more, sit less
      • Healthy Made Tasty
      • Our Kids Our Call
    • Quit smoking and vaping
      • Quit smoking
      • Tackling Tobacco
      • Smoke free environments
      • Electronic cigarettes
      • Generation Vape
    • Sun protection
      • Slip on a shirt
      • Slop on sunscreen
      • Slap on a hat
      • Seek shade
      • Slide on sunglasses
      • SunSmart NSW website
      • Improve your long game
      • Outdoor workers
      • Sporting groups
      • Buy sun protection products online
    • Screening and early detection
      • Cervical screening
      • Bowel cancer screening
      • Breast cancer screening
      • Lung cancer screening
      • Testicular cancer
      • Prostate cancer
      • Ovarian cancer
      • Liver cancer and hepatitis B
      • Check for skin cancer
    • CanAct – campaigning for better policies
    • Cancer Council shops
  • Research
    Research programs save lives, improve treatments and quality of life for cancer survivors.
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      • I-PaRCS
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      • Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea
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  • Could our gut bacteria play a role in lung cancer?

Could our gut bacteria play a role in lung cancer?

Professor Philip Hansbro The University of Newcastle $448,695 2019–2021

Background

In 2019, around 12,800 Australians will be diagnosed with lung cancer making it our fifth most common cancer. With few effective treatments available, the survival rate remains low; only around 17% of those diagnosed today can expect to survive for five years or longer.

Smoking is the primary factor that puts people at risk. Air pollution is also becoming an important factor. In Australia, smoking currently contributes to around 85-90% of lung cancer cases, however, fewer than 25% of smokers will develop lung cancer and, although rare, lung cancer can also occur in ‘never smokers’. This means there must be other factors at play and they could be the key to developing more effective treatments.

In recent years, the gut microbiome has emerged as a key area of focus for medical research. The gut microbiome (or gut bacteria) is a collection of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in our gastrointestinal tract and is responsible for breaking down the food we eat. Researchers have discovered links between gut bacteria and a wide range of illnesses including colon, liver and pancreatic cancers. Could gut bacteria also play a role in lung cancer?

The research

Professor Hansbro and his team have been studying the role of gut bacteria in chronic lung diseases including emphysema. They’ve been able to show that manipulating gut bacteria can help to manage lung disease, highlighting a link between the gut and lung health.

The team has developed a way to mimic lung cancer in the lab, giving them a means to investigate how the disease develops and progresses. In this project, the researchers will look at the role of gut bacteria in this process. They will analyse changes to the composition and function of gut bacteria as lung cancer develops and progresses in order to identify specific bacteria and their components or products that may be involved. Based on this information, the team will use a variety of approaches to manipulate the gut bacteria, for example, by faecal microbiome transfers (transferring healthy gut bacteria into the gastrointestinal tract), and treatment with prebiotics, probiotics or antibiotics.

The impact

This is one of the first studies in Australia and the world to assess the role of gut bacteria in lung cancer development and progression. Professor Hansbro and his team hope to show that manipulating gut bacteria can help treat, or even prevent, lung cancer. If successful, the team will continue their research using samples of human gut bacteria to develop new treatments for clinical trials.

This project opens up an exciting new field of research in lung cancer, one with significant potential to prevent lung cancer in at-risk populations and improve survival.

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