105 Cargill Building
Up to half of cancer cases may be preventable through 1) reduced exposure to tobacco, occupational carcinogens, and infectious agents, and 2) adherence to lifelong healthy eating and a physically active lifestyle. Increasingly, gut microbial metabolism of environmental exposures, including diet, is being considered in cancer etiology and prevention. Diet can influence the abundance and activity of microbes present in the gut, and gut microbial metabolism of dietary constituents produces compounds that may have positive or adverse effects on cancer risk in the host. In humans, interindividual variation in gut microbial capacity to metabolize dietary compounds, such as phytochemicals, has implications for dietary exposures in and interindividual response to diet. In the context of dietary interventions, we study how differences in gut microbial metabolism can affect circulating levels of bioactive metabolites and biomarkers of cancer risk. Understanding how diet-microbiome interactions affect cancer risk may help to guide future prevention strategies
Dr. Johanna Lampe
Professor and Associate Director, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutch Cancer Center