The microbiome in cancer immunotherapy: Diagnostic tools and therapeutic strategies

Laurence Zitvogel, Yuting Ma, Didier Raoult, Guido Kroemer, Thomas F. Gajewski

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    521 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The fine line between human health and disease can be driven by the interplay between host and microbial factors. This "metagenome" regulates cancer initiation, progression, and response to therapies. Besides the capacity of distinct microbial species to modulate the pharmacodynamics of chemotherapeutic drugs, symbiosis between epithelial barriers and their microbial ecosystems has a major impact on the local and distant immune system, markedly influencing clinical outcome in cancer patients. Efficacy of cancer immunotherapy with immune checkpoint antibodies can be diminished with administration of antibiotics, and superior efficacy is observed with the presence of specific gut microbes. Future strategies of precision medicine will likely rely on novel diagnostic and therapeutic tools with which to identify and correct defects in the microbiome that compromise therapeutic efficacy.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1366-1370
    Number of pages5
    JournalScience
    Volume359
    Issue number6382
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 23 Mar 2018

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