QUORUM SENSING PEPTIDES: MISSING LINK BETWEEN MICROBIOME AND
HEALTH?
Evelien Wynendaele1, Frederick Verbeke1, Matthias D’Hondt1, An Hendrix2, Christophe Van De Wiele3,
Christian Burvenich4, Kathelijne Peremans5, Olivier De Wever2, Marc Bracke2 and Bart De Spiegeleer1,*
1Drug
Quality and Registration (DruQuaR) group, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium;
of Radiation Oncology and Experimental Cancer Research, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent
University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium; 3Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences,
Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium; 4Comparative Physiology and Biometrics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent
University, Merelbeke, Belgium; 5Department of Medical Imaging, Medicine and Clinical Biology of Small Animals, Faculty of
Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
* Bart.DeSpiegeleer@UGent.be
(Our reference: 2014-451b)
2Department
CSP*
EDF**
PhrG**
Placebo
To date, it is generally believed that the bacterial microbiota of the host plays a key role in health, e.g.
carcinogenesis [1]. However, up till now, the role of quorum sensing peptides, produced by commensal
or pathogenic bacteria, in this interaction remained unresolved. Therefore, we explored the crosstalk
between selected quorum sensing peptides [2,3] and mammalian tumour cells, i.e. HCT-8/E11 (colorectal
adenocarcinoma) and MCF-7/AZ (breast adenocarcinoma) cells, using both cell-based in vitro and in vivo
assays. Different quorum sensing peptides from Bacillus species, Streptococcus mitis, Enterococcus
faecium and Escherichia coli were found to promote tumour cell migration and angiogenesis (Figure 1),
thereby potentially influencing cancer metastasis and thus cancer outcome [4,5].
Figure 1: Chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) images after quorum sensing peptide treatment of MCF-7/AZ cells.
** Mean CAM score p < 0.05, * mean CAM score p < 0.1. Tumour cells, when treated with the
quorum sensing peptides, moved through the chorionic layer into the mesoderm (orange
arrowheads). Clusters of chorionic epithelial cells are indicated by black arrowheads,
indicating aggressive tumour cell invasion through the membrane.
References:
[1] Schwabe RF, et al. (2013) The microbiome and cancer. Nature Reviews Cancer 13: 800-812. [2]
Wynendaele E, et al. (2013) Quorumpeps database: chemical space, microbial origin and functionality of
the quorum sensing peptides. Nucleic Acids Research 41: D655-D659. [3] Wynendaele E, et al. (2014)
Exploring the chemical space of quorum sensing peptides. Manuscript submitted. [4] Wynendaele E, et
al. (2014) Crosstalk between the microbiome and cancer cells by quorum sensing peptides. Manuscript
submitted. [5] De Spiegeleer B, et al. (2014) Quorum sensing peptides promote angiogenesis and
invasion of breast cancer cells. Manuscript submitted.