The Role of Probiotics in Cancer Therapy
When cancer therapy fails
Immunotherapy, where drugs help a patient’s own immune system fight cancer, is curative for some cancer patients. For example, current immunotherapy treatments cure around 10-20 % of patients with melanoma . Sadly, for the remaining 80% of patients, immunotherapy is less effective. Most melanoma patients either do not respond to immunotherapy, or after an initial response their cancer returns .
An exciting new study provides hope for these patients in the form of a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT). Otherwise known as a poo transplant.
It’s all in the gut!
Researchers have known for some time that certain gut bacteria are essential for the development and proper function of your immune system. Pre-clinical cancer models suggest that gut bacteria are determine how well cancer patients respond to immunotherapy. For example, mice who received fecal bacteria transplants from melanoma patients who responded to immunotherapy have a better immune response to melanoma than mice who receive faecal bacteria from non-responsive melanoma patients .
These pre-clinical studies inspired Baruch and Colleagues to test whether transplanting bacteria improves immunotherapy in human melanoma patients .
What they did
The researchers identified ten patients with metastatic melanoma who were unresponsive to immunotherapy. These patients had their natural gut flora eradicated by three days of hard-core antibiotic therapy. They then received a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) of bacteria samples derived from two melanoma patients who had curative responses to immunotherapy.
After FTM the test subjects were treated with six cycles of immunotherapy. They maintained their new gut bacteria populations by taking probiotic capsules of gut bacteria from the cured melanoma patient donors throughout the study.
What they found
Three of the ten non-responders responded positively to immuno-therapy after their FMT. Strikingly, one patient showing complete response and two showing partial response. Interestingly, all three of the patients who responded received their bacteria from the same donor.
The researchers compared the gut bacteria populations before and after FMT. They found that the patients gut biome changed after FMT to resemble that of the donors. Unfortunately there was no clear association between bacterial species and therapy response. Thus, identification of bacterial species responsible for augmenting the anti-cancer immune response will require clinical trials with larger patient numbers.
Why bacterial transplants work
Mouse tumour models show that microbiota transplants increase the infiltration of antigen presenting cells (APCs) into tumours. APCs are specialised immune cells that present foreign molecules (for mutated cancer proteins) to immune cells. The presentation of cancer proteins to immune cells is what allows the immune system to identify and kill cancer cells.
The same thing appears to happen in human cancer patients . Beneficial bacteria stimulate APCs in the gut. These active APCs then make their way to tumours where they help facilitate a robust anti-tumour immune response .
What this means for you
This study provides the first critical evidence that transfer of gut bacteria can improve the cure rate in cancer patients.
This is a breakthrough because microbiota transplantation is known to be extremely safe. This is true even for people with compromised immune systems. Thus, optimised bacterial therapies can be rapidly deployed to improve the survival of patients with non-responsive cancers.
These finding also have broader implications for cancer prevention. Most of the time, your immune system keeps cancer at bay. Once identified, bacterial strains that improve your immune response to cancer can be developed into probiotics that prevent cancer.
Click on the link below to download the free PDF of the article.
Disclaimer
The material displayed on this website is provided without any guarantees, conditions or warranties as to its accuracy.
Information written and expressed on this website is for education purposes and interest only. It is not intended to replace advice from your medical or healthcare professional.
You are encouraged to make your own health care choices based on your own research and in conjunction with your qualified practitioner.
The information provided on this website is not intended to provide a diagnosis, treatment or cure for any diseases. You should seek medical attention before undertaking any diet, exercise, other health program or other procedure described on this website.
To the fullest extent permitted by law we hereby expressly exclude all warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity and must not be liable for any damages whatsoever, including but without limitation to any direct, indirect, special, consequential, punitive or incidental damages, or damages for loss of use, profits, data or other intangibles, damage to goodwill or reputation, injury or death, or the cost of procurement of substitute goods and services, arising out of or related to the use, inability to use, performance or failures of this website or any linked sites and any materials or information posted on those sites, irrespective of whether such damages were foreseeable or arise in contract, tort, equity, restitution, by statute, at common law or otherwise.
Ten Minutes is All You Need
Research has shown that ten minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise performed each day is enough to significantly reduce your risk of early death.
Submaximal Training for Older Adults
A simple strength program designed for older adults to to increase bone density and improve strength, power and muscle mass.
