The Microbiome in Gastrointestinal Cancers

Gastroenterol Clin North Am. 2022 Sep;51(3):667-680. doi: 10.1016/j.gtc.2022.06.007. Epub 2022 Aug 29.

Abstract

The human microbiome has been recognized as increasingly important to health and disease. This is especially prescient in the development of various cancers, their progression, and the microbiome's modulation of various anticancer therapeutics. Mechanisms behind these interactions have been increasingly well described through modulation of the host immune system as well as induction of genetic changes and local inactivation of cancer therapeutics. Here, we review these associations for a variety of gastrointestinal malignancies as well as contemporary strategies proposed to leverage these associations to improve cancer treatment outcomes.

Keywords: Colorectal adenocarcinoma; Gastric adenocarcinoma; Microbiome; Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; Tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Gastrointestinal Neoplasms*
  • Humans
  • Immune System
  • Microbiota*