Gastric and esophageal cancers are multifactorial and multistage-involved malignancy. While the impact of gut microbiota on overall human health and diseases has been well documented, the influence of gastric and esophageal microbiota on gastric and esophageal cancers remains unclear. This review will discuss the reported alteration in the composition of gastric and esophageal microbiota in normal and disease conditions, and the potential role of dysbiosis in carcinogenesis and tumorigenesis. This review will also discuss how dysbiosis stimulates local and systemic immunity, which may impact on the immunotherapy for cancer.
Keywords: H. pylori; antibiotics; checkpoint inhibitors; dysbiosis; proton-pump inhibitors; tumor microenvironment.
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press and Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.