The relationship between gastrointestinal cancers and the microbiota

Abstract

The contribution of the microbiota to disease progression and treatment efficacy is often neglected when determining who is at the highest risk of developing gastrointestinal cancers or designing treatment strategies for patients. We reviewed the current literature on the effect of the human microbiota on cancer risk, prognosis, and treatment efficacy. We highlight emerging research that seeks to identify microbial signatures as biomarkers for various gastrointestinal cancers, and discuss how we could harness knowledge of the microbiome to detect, prevent, and treat these cancers. Finally, we outline further research needed in the field of gastrointestinal cancers and the microbiota, and describe the efforts required to increase the accuracy and reproducibility of data linking the microbiome to cancer.