Eran Elinav, MD, PhD

Project Title:

Using clinical and microbiome features to predict responses in childhood acute leukemia

About the Investigator:

Prof. Eran Elinav (Head, Department of Systems Immunology, WIS; Director, Microbiome & Cancer division, DKFZ) focuses on deciphering the molecular basis of host-microbiome interactions, and is credited with multiple microbiome-related biomedical discoveries, including: personalized nutrition; circadian microbiome behavior; Discoveries of the microbiome-modulating NLRP6 and NLRP10 inflammasomes; decoding of microbiome-modulated compounds impacting noncommunicable diseases (obesity and ALS); Vaginal microbiome transplantation (VMT) for treatment of bacterial vaginosis; phage combination therapy for targeted suppression of microbiome-modulated non-communicable disease; and elucidation of microbiome involvement in CAR T therapy in cancer. Elinav has won multiple prestigious grants and awards for his seminal findings.

About the Research:

Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common type of cancer in children. While treatments have improved survival rates, many children experience severe side effects from chemotherapy, such as life-threatening infections or damage to vital organs. Identifying which children are at higher risk for these complications even before treatment is administered constitutes a significant unresolved challenge. Current methods rely on trial-and-error approaches, leaving room for improvement in predicting and preventing these adverse events.

Dr. Elinav’s research explores how the gut microbiome, the community of bacteria and other microorganisms in our digestive system, may help predict which children are more likely to experience severe treatment side effects. Dr. Elinav’s research group, together with leading Israeli clinical collaborators, will collect data from 250 children newly diagnosed with ALL, including clinical details and gut microbiome samples taken before treatment begins. Using advanced computational tools, they will analyze the microbiome to find patterns linked to adverse events. These patterns will then be used to develop personalized prediction models.

To understand if and how the gut microbiome contributes to treatment side effects, Dr. Elinav’s research group will use germ-free mice, transplanting gut bacteria from patients with and without complications. This will help confirm whether specific bacteria or microbial functions cause certain adverse reactions.