{
  "abstract": "Background\n\nThe tumour immune microenvironment shapes colorectal cancer progression and therapeutic vulnerability, but host metabolic programmes linked to immune-inflamed tumour states remain incompletely defined. Microbiome-derived and postbiotic-related metabolites influence epithelial, stromal and immune signalling, yet their downstream tumour transcriptomic readouts have rarely been assessed as host-side indicators of immune microenvironment state.Methods\n\nFour mechanistically defined postbiotic-related host axes were curated: short-chain fatty acid, tryptophan/AhR, polyamine and ferroptosis/redox. Axis scores were calculated as mean z-standardized expression of curated genes in TCGA colorectal cancers and evaluated in GSE39582. Associations with marker-based immune/stromal signatures, microsatellite instability, cytolytic activity, stage and overall survival were tested using Spearman correlations, Wilcoxon tests and Cox models with false-discovery-rate correction.Results\n\nIn TCGA, the tryptophan/AhR axis showed the strongest coupling to marker-based immune and myeloid signatures, including macrophage-, Treg-, NK-cell-, CD8 T-cell-, Th1-like and cytolytic-activity programmes. Tryptophan/AhR, short-chain fatty acid and ferroptosis/redox axes were enriched in MSI-H and immune-high tumours, whereas the polyamine axis showed weaker immune associations. Short-chain fatty acid and ferroptosis/redox axes decreased recurrently in advanced-stage disease across cohorts. No universal prognostic axis emerged, although the short-chain fatty acid axis retained a stage-adjusted association with improved overall survival in GSE39582.Conclusions\n\nPostbiotic-related host transcriptomic axes provide interpretable tumour-level readouts connecting metabolic cues with immune microenvironment states in colorectal cancer. They should be considered hypothesis-generating host-side immune-context readouts rather than ready-to-use clinical signatures.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Division of Biochemistry, Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran. st_so.akbari@urmia.ac.ir.",
    "R&D Department, Rahavard Afarinesh Kavir Company, Qom, Iran. st_so.akbari@urmia.ac.ir."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Soroush Akbari-Ardabili",
      "orcid": "0009-0000-5349-4997"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e4ykgc0wcb77p.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1186/s12967-026-08738-2",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13721341",
  "id": "e4ykgc0wcb77p",
  "issns": [
    "1479-5876"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42958298",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Research"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2730|Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7171938473",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13721341?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13721341",
  "pmid": "42958298",
  "published": "2026-07-31",
  "publisher": "BMC",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e4ykgc0wcb77p.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-01T00:20:47Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42958298",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42958298"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-03T12:22:03Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13721341",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-026-08738-2"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2730|Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers",
      "subfield": "oncology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Postbiotic-related host transcriptomic axes link tumour immune microenvironment, stage and survival in colorectal cancer.",
  "title_text": "Postbiotic-related host transcriptomic axes link tumour immune microenvironment, stage and survival in colorectal cancer.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-03T12:22:03Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e4ykgc0wcb77p",
  "venue": "Journal of translational medicine",
  "versions": []
}