Mechanism-guided fine-tuned microbiome potentiates anti-tumor immunity in HCC

Front Immunol. 2023 Dec 19:14:1333864. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1333864. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Microbiome, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses, plays a crucial role in shaping distal and proximal anti-tumor immunity. Mounting evidence showed that commensal microbiome critically modulates immunophenotyping of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a leading cause of cancer-related death. However, their role in anti-tumor surveillance of HCC is still poorly understood. Herein, we spotlighted growing interests in how the microbiome influences the progression and immunotherapeutic responses of HCC via changing local tumor microenvironment (TME) upon translocating to the sites of HCC through different "cell-type niches". Moreover, we summarized not only the associations but also the deep insight into the mechanisms of how the extrinsic microbiomes interplay with hosts to shape immune surveillance and regulate TME and immunotherapeutic responses. Collectively, we provided a rationale for a mechanism-guided fine-tuned microbiome to be neoadjuvant immunotherapy in the near future.

Keywords: HCC TME; bacteria; cell-type niche; fungi; immunotherapy; microbe-host interplay; microbiome; viruses.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* / therapy
  • Humans
  • Immunologic Surveillance
  • Immunophenotyping
  • Liver Neoplasms* / therapy
  • Microbiota*
  • Tumor Microenvironment

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82373257). This work was also supported by grants from the Young Talents Program of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (YTP-SYSUCC-0056).