In the summer of 2020, a small group of participants registered for the first phase of the CPS-3 portal. That fall, we began a new sub-study about the gut microbiome and over 550 participants completed an online questionnaire and contributed a stool sample.
This pilot was so successful we continued the study in the fall of 2021 and collected another 3,000 stool samples from other CPS-3 portal participants.
Now, in 2022, we’re expanding the sub-study to collect saliva samples too. By the end of 2024, we aim to collect over 10,000 paired stool and saliva samples. Researchers of the Gut & Oral Microbiome Sub-Study will use the samples to investigate the role of these microbiomes in overall health and risk of developing cancer.
The stool samples provide a "snapshot" of the participant's unique gut microbiome—the collection of microorganisms (like bacteria, viruses, and fungi) that live inside everyone's digestive system. The saliva samples will similarly provide a “snapshot” of the oral microbiome—the microbes that live inside everyone's mouths.
The gut and oral microbiomes are shaped by diet, lifestyle, genetics, and environmental factors. These microbiomes play an important role in the absorption of nutrients and minerals, our immune system, and in chronic health conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, heart disease and colorectal cancer.
The collected stool and saliva samples, as well as the accompanying survey data, will allow ACS researchers to investigate the role of the gut and oral microbiomes in overall health and in risk factors for cancer such as obesity.
If you were one of the over 3,000 CPS-3 participants who have already provided a stool sample, thank you. It’s because of the success of these collections that we decided to expand the sub-study to collect stool and saliva samples from another 10,000 participants.