Diet, Microbiome and Epigenetics in the Era of Precision Medicine

Authors: RISCUTA, GABRIELA - National Cancer Institute (NCI, NIH); DUFFY, LINDA - National Cancer Institute (NCI, NIH); KHALSA, JAG - National Cancer Institute (NCI, NIH); Starke-Reed, Pamela; XI, DAN - National Cancer Institute (NCI, NIH); PIERRE-VICTOR, DUDIT - National Cancer Institute (NCI, NIH)

Submitted to: Cancer Epigenetics for Precision Medicine
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/6/2017
Publication Date: 9/4/2018
Citation: Riscuta, G., Duffy, L., Khalsa, J., Starke-Reed, P.E., Xi, D., Pierre-Victor, D. 2018. Diet, Microbiome and Epigenetics in the Era of Precision Medicine. Cancer Epigenetics for Precision Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8751-1_8.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8751-1_8

Interpretive Summary: Precision medicine is a revolutionary approach for disease prevention and treatment that takes into account individual differences in lifestyle, environment, and biology. The United States National Institutes of Health has recently launched The All of Us Research Program [2016] to extend Precision Medicine to all diseases by building a national research cohort of one million or more U.S. participants. This review is limited to a how the human microbiome factors into Precision Medicine from the applied aspect of preventing and managing cancer. The Precision Medicine Initiative was established in an effort to address particular characteristics of each person with the aim to increase the effectiveness of medical interventions in terms of prevention and treatment of multiple diseases including cancer. Many factors contribute to the response to an intervention. The microbiome and microbially produced metabolites are capable of epigenetic modulation of gene activity, and can influence the response through these mechanisms. The fact that diet has an impact on microbiome, implies that it will also affect the epigenetic mechanisms involving microbiota. We are reviewing here some major epigenetic mechanisms (DNA methylation, chromatin remodeling and histone modification, and non-coding RNA) implicated in cancer prevention and treatment. Several examples of how microbially produced metabolites from food, influence cancer risk and treatment response through epigenetic mechanisms will be discussed. Some challenges include the limitation of understanding of how diet shapes the microbiome and how to best evaluate those changes since both, diet and the microbiota exhibit daily and seasonal variations. Ongoing research is trying to understand the relationship between the human microbiome and multiple diseases including cancer and the combination of these two disciplines is very important.

Technical Abstract: Precision medicine is a revolutionary approach for disease prevention and treatment that takes into account individual differences in lifestyle, environment, and biology. The United States National Institutes of Health has recently launched The All of Us Research Program [2016] to extend Precision Medicine to all diseases by building a national research cohort of one million or more U.S. participants. This review is limited to a how the human microbiome factors into Precision Medicine from the applied aspect of preventing and managing cancer. The Precision Medicine Initiative was established in an effort to address particular characteristics of each person with the aim to increase the effectiveness of medical interventions in terms of prevention and treatment of multiple diseases including cancer. Many factors contribute to the response to an intervention. The microbiome and microbially produced metabolites are capable of epigenetic modulation of gene activity, and can influence the response through these mechanisms. The fact that diet has an impact on microbiome, implies that it will also affect the epigenetic mechanisms involving microbiota. We are reviewing here some major epigenetic mechanisms (DNA methylation, chromatin remodeling and histone modification, and non-coding RNA) implicated in cancer prevention and treatment. Several examples of how microbially produced metabolites from food, influence cancer risk and treatment response through epigenetic mechanisms will be discussed. Some challenges include the limitation of understanding of how diet shapes the microbiome and how to best evaluate those changes since both, diet and the microbiota exhibit daily and seasonal variations. Ongoing research is trying to understand the relationship between the human microbiome and multiple diseases including cancer and the combination of these two disciplines is very important.