Liver’s killer instinct

A study in Science suggests natural killer T cells residing in the liver uniquely position the organ to reap antitumor effects from antibiotic-mediated microbiome depletion, uncovering a novel link in the microbiome-cancer relationship that highlights its complexity.

The study, led by NCI’s Tim Greten, showed antibiotic depletion of the microbiome reduced the number of tumors in the liver. Subsequent experiments suggested the antitumor effects were microbe- and tissue-specific (see Distillery)...