Blaser Lab Group

Claudia Plottel, MD, Prinicpal Investigator

Clinical Associate Professor

Department of Medicine (Translational Medicine)

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Research Interest: Estrogen, essential for human health and reproduction, plays a role in malignancies such as Type I endometrial carcinoma, and forms of breast and ovarian cancer. The clinical success of anti-estrogen therapies including tamoxifen and aromatase-inhibitors, speaks to the centrality of estrogens in estrogen receptor-expressing breast cancers. Epidemiologic data has similarly implicated states of estrogen excess, such as obesity, nulliparity, early menarche, and late age at menopause as risks for the development of estrogen-related cancers. Estrogen exposure begins in utero and is lifelong. Circulating estrogens are subject to hepatic metabolism; hepatic conjugation reactions allow for biliary excretion of estrogen conjugates. Estrogens that enter the gut via bile are then either excreted in feces primarily as conjugates, or recirculated via the enterohepatic circulation. We are interested in characterizing the “switch” that allows for greater or lesser estrogen recirculation as women with the highest levels of circulating estrogens are known to be at increased risk of developing estrogen-related cancers. The composition and functioning of the huge intestinal community of metabolically active microorganisms that constitute a woman’s intestinal microbiome may impact her lifetime endogenous estrogen exposure.

Our current research focus in both humans and in murine models is the estrobolome, the aggregate of enteric bacterial genes whose products are capable of metabolizing estrogens.

Ongoing projects:

• Study of the gut microbiome and estrogen metabolism in women with and without Type I endometrioid endometrial carcinoma.


• Antibiotic-induced gut microbiota perturbation and estrogen metabolism.


• Estrogen metabolism, gut microbiome, and estrogen-driven neoplasia.

Education/Training:

Selected Publications

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