Scientists discover cancer-fighting bacteria that 'soak up' forever chemicals in the body
Forever chemicals, also known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), are toxic chemicals that have been linked cancer, infertility and birth defects.
They're named because they don't naturally break down in the environment or the body.
Instead, they leech from plastic containers and nonstick cookware into food and build up in vital organs, increasing the risk of organ failure, infertility and some forms of cancer.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge took samples of 38 strains of healthy bacteria living in the human gut and put them into lab mice.
They found mice carrying human gut bacteria had up to 74 percent more 'forever' chemicals in their stool compared to mice without the bacteria within minutes of exposure.
This suggests the toxins latched on to the bacteria as they moved through the digestive tract, leaving the body through the stool.
While mountains of research have demonstrated deadly effects of forever chemicals, the new study is one of the first to show they can be taken out of the body instead of accumulating in there forever.
And it builds on recent research showing a link between PFAS and the digestive tract. A study published last month, for example, found PFAS latches on to bile acids in the gut and eating fiber can help filter that excess bile out.
Dr Kiran Patil, senior study author and toxicologist at the University of Cambridge, said: 'Given the scale of the problem of PFAS "forever chemicals," particularly their effects on human health, it's concerning that so little is being done about removing these from our bodies.
'We found that certain species of human gut bacteria have a remarkably high capacity to soak up PFAS from their environment at a range of concentrations, and store these in clumps inside their cells.
'Due to aggregation of PFAS in these clumps, the bacteria themselves seem protected from the toxic effects.'
PFAS are thought to be endocrine-disrupting chemicals, meaning they imitate the body's hormones and interfere with the production of - and response to - natural hormones like estrogen and testosterone.
This increases the risk of developing hormone-sensitive cancers like breast and ovarian cancer.
The study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Microbiology, looked at samples of 38 healthy bacteria in the gut.
The researchers measured the effect of bacteria on levels of the forever chemicals perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorooctanoate acid (PFOA).
PFOA is considered a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), meaning it causes cancer in animals. PFNA, meanwhile, is a Group 2 carcinogen, suggesting it may cause cancer in animals.
Over the course of 24 hours, nine of the tested bacteria reduced exposure to PFNA by 25 to 74 percent and PFOA levels by 23 to 58 percent.
For both types of PFAS, Odoribacter splanchnicus lead to the greatest reductions. It's thought to produce the short-chain fatty acid butyrate, which boosts metabolism and immune function.
The team believes PFAS latch onto the bacteria and are excreted out of the body through the stool.
The researchers are now working on developing probiotic supplements to increase levels of these healthy bacteria in the gut.
Dr Indra Roux, study co-author and researcher at the University of Cambridge's MRC Toxicology Unit, said: 'The reality is that PFAS are already in the environment and in our bodies, and we need to try and mitigate their impact on our health now.
'We haven't found a way to destroy PFAS, but our findings open the possibility of developing ways to get them out of our bodies where they do the most harm.'
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'I didn't have a particular job to do. In fact, by that time it was a purely honorary title,' he said, although he recalled enjoying the state occasions. Despite lacking a formal job description, Graham-Smith was thrust into a debate about astronomy funding after Margaret Thatcher, a scientist by training, decided it was a waste of money after being unimpressed by an over-ambitious live 1986 BBC programme in which he appeared — it was about the European spacecraft Giotto passing through the tail of Halley's comet. 'We have no shortage of excellent students, but they will probably work abroad,' he protested. 'The fact that we will go on populating the world with British astronomers is absolutely splendid, but wouldn't it be nicer to think that just a few would stay at home?' Indeed, Graham-Smith was a great champion of young people in astronomy. 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He was educated at Epsom College, Surrey, and Rossall School, Lancashire, before reading physics at Downing College, Cambridge, where his course included a section on electronics and radio. He arrived with conventional beliefs about heavenly bodies, which were discarded 'when I started to think seriously about them', and was later a patron of Humanists UK. His studies were interrupted by service with the Home Guard in Blackpool and work on radar for the Telecommunications Research Establishment at Malvern. Immediately after VE Day he was sent to Bombay, spending six months as part of a support group for the war in the east. 'VJ day came soon after I arrived, so there was nothing much to do,' he recalled. Nevertheless, his wartime experience proved invaluable. 'At the end of the war we went back to our universities and developed the subject of radio astronomy, which was really quite new,' he told Science Café on BBC Wales in 2023. 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They were married in 1945 and she became a maths teacher, potter and tai-chi expert, writing fitness books for the over-fifties. Keeping radio astronomy in the family Elizabeth's sister, Rowena, and Ryle married in 1947. Gradually Graham-Smith's attention turned from radio waves to astronomy, though with no experience of finding his way around the sky he had to learn the basics by lying on his back on a starlit night. 'I was always interested in radios and so physics seemed the path to follow. But during my research into radio science it became clear that what we were actually doing was astronomy,' he said. He soon became one of the leading figures in the field, publishing scientific papers and his first book, Radio Astronomy (1960, with JH Thomson). In 1964 he was appointed professor of radio astronomy at the University of Manchester under Sir Bernard Lovell (obituary, August 8, 2012), the founder of Jodrell Bank. A decade later he moved to Greenwich, his tenure coinciding with both the observatory's tercentenary in 1975 and his presidency of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1975 to 1977. In 1981 he returned to Manchester, succeeding Lovell at Jodrell Bank where he helped to develop a visitor centre. For many years Graham-Smith lived in Henbury, Cheshire, where he was among the founders of the village's Millennium Green. Home was the Old School House, an eccentric series of adaptable open spaces with a large, galleried lounge linked to other parts of the complex through an extension built by the astronomer royal himself. The family also had a cottage in the hills behind Caernarfon in north Wales, from where they enjoyed walking and sailing. Elizabeth died in 2021 and Graham-Smith is survived by their three sons: David, a geologist; Andrew, an engineer; and Piers who studied crystallography; and by their daughter, Helen, an artist. A favourite activity for the children when they were young was climbing inside the giant bowl of the Jodrell Bank radio telescope and rolling pennies around inside it. Some years later slots were added to the bowl, meaning future coin-rollers' pennies fell to the ground. Graham-Smith retired in 1990, the same year he lent his name to a campaign for darker skies. He remained active in his own field and in the wider academic world, serving as pro vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester and as physical secretary of the Royal Society. He continued to publish into his nineties. Among his later works is Eyes on the Sky (2016), a remarkable exploration of how technology can give an in-depth picture of the nature of the universe. At its core is the message to keep looking up: you just never know what you might discover. For someone whose eyes were fixed on the stars, Graham-Smith was a down-to-earth character, passionate about bricklaying, furniture-making and tending to his bees. 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Professor Sir Francis Graham-Smith FRS, astronomer royal 1982-90, was born on April 25, 1923. He died on June 20, 2025, aged 102
