Targeting the gut and tumor microbiome in cancer treatment resistance

Oct 22, 2024American journal of physiology. Cell physiology

Targeting gut and tumor bacteria in cancer treatment resistance

AI simplified

Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

The intestinal microbiome is associated with treatment resistance in cancer, impacting therapeutic outcomes.

Therapy resistance is a significant challenge in oncology across various treatment methods.
The gut and tumor microbiome may influence cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis formation.
Specific pathogens within the microbiome could be linked to poor responses to cancer therapies.
Unfavorable microbial compositions are associated with mechanisms that promote cancer resistance and progression.
Targeted elimination of specific bacteria may enhance treatment responses, while broad-spectrum antibiotics often reduce efficacy.
Microbiota modulation through probiotics and fecal microbiota transplantation could improve treatment efficacy and reduce adverse effects.

AI simplified

Therapy resistance represents a significant challenge in oncology, occurring in various therapeutic approaches. Recently, animal models and an increasing set of clinical trials highlight the crucial impact of the gut and tumor microbiome on treatment response. The intestinal microbiome contributes to cancer initiation, progression, and formation of distant metastasis. In addition, tumor-associated microbiota is considered a critical player in influencing tumor microenvironments and regulating local immune processes. Intriguingly, numerous studies have successfully identified pathogens within the gut and tumor microbiome that might be linked to a poor response to different therapeutic modalities. The unfavorable microbial composition with the presence of specific microbes participates in cancer resistance and progression via several mechanisms, including upregulation of oncogenic pathways, macrophage polarization reprogramming, metabolism of chemotherapeutic compounds, autophagy pathway modulation, enhanced DNA damage repair, inactivation of a proapoptotic cascade, and bacterial secretion of extracellular vesicles, promoting the processes in the metastatic cascade. Targeted elimination of specific intratumoral bacteria appears to enhance treatment response. However, broad-spectrum antibiotic pretreatment is mostly connected to reduced efficacy due to gut dysbiosis and lower diversity. Mounting evidence supports the potential of microbiota modulation by probiotics and fecal microbiota transplantation to improve intestinal dysbiosis and increase microbial diversity, leading to enhanced treatment efficacy while mitigating adverse effects. In this context, further research concerning the identification of clinically relevant microbiome signatures followed by microbiota-targeted strategies presents a promising approach to overcoming immunotherapy and chemotherapy resistance in refractory patients, improving their outcomes.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View full text ↗

Targeting the gut and tumor microbiome in cancer treatment resistance

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief

Abstract

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief