{"id":6925,"date":"2026-03-23T13:47:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/?p=6925"},"modified":"2026-04-27T14:10:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T13:10:30","slug":"new-study-in-nature-comms-finds-archaea-associated-with-colorectal-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/news\/new-study-in-nature-comms-finds-archaea-associated-with-colorectal-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"New study in Nature Comms finds archaea associated with colorectal cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Combining a meta-analysis and a mechanistic study for validation, CoE Deputy Director of Research Christine Moissl-Eichinger and her lab (Moissl-Eichinger lab at MedUni Graz), with first author Rokhsareh Mohammadzadeh, and CoE Key Researchers Gregor Gorkiewicz, Christian Diener and Alexander Loy (University of Vienna), challenge the long-held belief that Methanobrevibacter smithii – <\/em>the most common archaeon in the human gut – is purely a “commensal” or even a “beneficial” microbe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By analyzing nearly 3,000 fecal samples across 19 clinical studies, they found that while archaeal patterns vary across diseases, M. smithii<\/em> is consistently and significantly enriched in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Using metabolic modeling and mechanistic experiments, they found that M. smithii<\/em> is not a passive component of the microbiome but actively supports bacteria driving CRC progression, such as Fusobacterium nucleatum<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only in this cross-domain partnership do the microorganisms exchange important metabolites and produce specific metabolites that may directly influence the tumor environment. Thus, to truly understand complex diseases, we need a cross-domain view of the microbial ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Publication in Nature Comms<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
News by Austrian Press Agency<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Press release by Medical University of Graz<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CoE Deputy Director Christine Moissl-Eichinger and her team challenge the long-held belief that Methanobrevibacter smithii is purely a “commensal” microbe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":6931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6925"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6937,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6925\/revisions\/6937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}