Title:Host Microbiomes in Tumor Precision Medicine: How far are we?
Volume: 29
Issue: 18
Author(s): Federica D’Amico, Monica Barone, Teresa Tavella, Simone Rampelli, Patrizia Brigidi and Silvia Turroni*
Affiliation:
- Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University
of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy
Keywords:
Gut microbiome, microbial metabolites, tumor microbiome, anticancer therapy, probiotics, fecal microbiota transplantation, next-generation probiotics, machine learning.
Abstract: The human gut microbiome has received a crescendo of attention in recent
years due to the countless influences on human pathophysiology, including cancer. Research
on cancer and anticancer therapy is constantly looking for new hints to improve
the response to therapy while reducing the risk of relapse. In this scenario, the gut microbiome
and the plethora of microbial-derived metabolites are considered a new opening in
the development of innovative anticancer treatments for a better prognosis. This narrative
review summarizes the current knowledge on the role of the gut microbiome in the onset
and progression of cancer, as well as in response to chemo-immunotherapy. Recent findings
regarding the tumor microbiome and its implications for clinical practice are also
commented on. Current microbiome-based intervention strategies (i.e., prebiotics, probiotics,
live biotherapeutics and fecal microbiota transplantation) are then discussed, along
with key shortcomings, including a lack of long-term safety information in patients who
are already severely compromised by standard treatments. The implementation of bioinformatic
tools applied to microbiomics and other omics data, such as machine learning,
has an enormous potential to push research in the field, enabling the prediction of health
risk and therapeutic outcomes, for a truly personalized precision medicine.