A microbial chromatin remodeler drives gastric cancer progression and immune evasion by reprogramming the host epigenome.

Streptococcus anginosus drives gastric cancer progression and immune evasion via the saSNF2-ZDHHC11 axis, promoting tumor growth and limiting immune infiltration.

• Why it matters: Gastric cancer treatment faces challenges due to resistance to PD-1 blockade combined with chemotherapy, necessitating new therapeutic targets to improve outcomes.
• What they did: Researchers identified SA as enriched in GC patient tumors and used mouse models to show that saEVs deliver saSNF2 into host cells, where it activates oncogenic transcription and upregulates ZDHHC11, stabilizing PD-L1.
• The result: Inhibiting ZDHHC11 reverses immune evasion and enhances anti-PD-1 therapy, suggesting the saSNF2-ZDHHC11 pathway as a promising target to improve immunotherapy efficacy.