{"id":232690,"date":"2026-03-06T14:03:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/how-bacteria-may-promote-breast-cancer"},"modified":"2026-03-06T14:03:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:03:26","slug":"how-bacteria-may-promote-breast-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/how-bacteria-may-promote-breast-cancer","title":{"rendered":"How bacteria may promote breast cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/how-bacteria-may-promote-breast-cancer2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have discovered how certain pathogenic bacteria in gut and breast tissue can promote breast cancer development and progression by hijacking a key metabolic enzyme known as spermine oxidase (SMOX). In a study led by Dipali Sharma, Ph.D., professor of oncology, investigators found that exposure to pathogenic bacteria such as Bacteroides fragilis, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Escherichia coli significantly increased SMOX activity, leading to DNA damage, tumor growth, and metastasis in laboratory and animal models of breast cancer.<\/p>\n<p>The work, published in Cancer Research, reveals a novel link between microbial dysbiosis\u2014the imbalance of good and harmful bacteria\u2014and breast cancer, and identifies SMOX as a potential therapeutic target.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMicrobes don\u2019t just reside in our gut. They can directly influence cancer behavior,\u201d says Sharma. \u201cWe found that an overabundance of certain pathogenic bacteria triggers inflammation and activates SMOX, producing reactive oxygen species that damage DNA and fuel tumor growth. By blocking SMOX, we were able to dramatically reduce tumor formation in our preclinical models.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have discovered how certain pathogenic bacteria in gut and breast tissue can promote breast cancer development and progression by hijacking a key metabolic enzyme known as spermine oxidase (SMOX). In a study led by Dipali Sharma, Ph.D., professor of oncology, investigators found that exposure to pathogenic bacteria [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":707,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/707"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}