IMEC study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Impact of the Gut Microbiome on clinical outcomes from multi-modality treatment for Esophageal Cancer
IRAS ID
291921
Contact name
George Hanna
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Cancer of the oesophagus (gullet) is among the world's top five cancers. Surgical resection is a standard treatment given in multimodality treatment of early oesophageal cancers. In recent years, studies have indicated that postoperative complications, including anastomotic leak, may increase loco-regional recurrence and reduce long-term survival following esophagectomy for cancer. Surgical resection for oesophageal cancer has a profound long-term impact upon health-related quality of life (HRQL) of patients and multimodality treatment can exacerbate the impact upon HRQL. A recent large European multi-centre cohort study evaluated the most important symptoms affecting HRQL following esophagectomy and identified that these symptoms cluster into specific domains including reflux or regurgitation problems and diarrhoea or dumping symptoms.
The gut microbiome is the totality of microorganisms, bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi, and their collective genetic material present in the gastrointestinal tract. Recently much attention and research has been focused on the study of the gut microbiome and its role in cancer development. A gap in the present literature exists regarding the effect of treatment upon changes in the host microbiome of oesophageal cancer patients, and how these changes may be associated with long-term symptoms and HRQL. There is a lack of understanding of the microbiome functionality and metabolic pathways linked to this. The aim of this study is to profile the gut microbiome along the multimodality treatment course of oesophageal cancer and identify underlying metabolic pathways contributing to symptoms and HRQL in multiple biosamples of interest.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/EE/0106
Date of REC Opinion
8 Jun 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion