Healthy gut microbiome improves success of cancer treatment

Date:
February 28, 2022
Source:
King's College London
Summary:
The largest study to date has confirmed the link between the
gut microbiome and the response to cancer immunotherapy therapy
for melanoma.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The largest study to date has confirmed the link between the gut
microbiome and the response to cancer immunotherapy therapy for melanoma.


==========================================================================
The study is published today in Nature Medicine and co-ordinated by
King's College London, CIBIO Department of the University of Trento and European Institute of Oncology in Italy, University of Groningen in the Netherlands and funded by the Seerave Foundation.

Dr Karla Lee, clinical researcher at King's College London and first
author of the study, said: "Preliminary studies on a limited number of
patients have suggested that the gut microbiome, as an immune system
regulator, plays a role in the response of each patient to cancer immunotherapy, and particularly in the case of melanoma. This new
study could have a major impact on oncology and medicine in general."
The microbiome, the set of microorganisms that live in the intestines,
can be altered through dietary changes, next generation probiotics and
faecal transplantation. This change is in turn modifying the microbiome's action on the immune system. Understanding the characteristics of the microbiome can enable treating clinicians to alter a patient's microbiome accordingly before starting treatment. Less than 50% of patients respond positively to immunotherapy for melanoma so finding strategies to increase
the number of positive responders is crucial.

The study put together the largest cohort of patients with melanoma and
samples of their gut microbiome from five clinical centres in the UK, the Netherland and Spain. Researchers carried out a large-scale metagenomic
study - - sequencing of the gut microbiome -- to investigate whether
there is an association between the composition and function of the gut microbiome and response to immunotherapy.

Results confirmed a complex association as it involves different
bacterial species in different patient cohorts. The presence of
three types of bacteria (Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum, Roseburia
spp. and Akkermansia muciniphila) seem to be associated with a better
immune response. An additional finding was that the microbiome itself
is strongly influenced by factors including patient constitution, use
of proton pump inhibitors and diet that should be considered in future longitudinal studies.

Co-author Professor Tim Spector from King's College London said:
"This study shows the chances of survival based on healthy microbes
nearly doubled between subgroups. The ultimate goal is to identify
which specific features of the microbiome are directly influencing
the clinical benefits of immunotherapy to exploit these features in
new personalised approaches to support cancer immunotherapy. But
in the meantime, this study highlights the potential impact
of good diet and gut health on chances of survival in patients
undergoing immunotherapy." Co-author Professor Nicola Segata
from University of Trento said: "Our study shows that studying the
microbiome is important to improve and personalise immunotherapy
treatments for melanoma. However, it also suggests that because of the person-to-person variability of the gut microbiome, even larger studies
must be carried out to understand the specific gut microbial features
that are more likely to lead to a positive response to immunotherapy." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by King's_College_London. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Karla A. Lee, Andrew Maltez Thomas, Laura A. Bolte, Johannes
R. Bjo"rk,
Laura Kist de Ruijter, Federica Armanini, Francesco Asnicar, Aitor
Blanco-Miguez, Ruth Board, Neus Calbet-Llopart, Lisa Derosa,
Nathalie Dhomen, Kelly Brooks, Mark Harland, Mark Harries,
Emily R. Leeming, Paul Lorigan, Paolo Manghi, Richard Marais,
Julia Newton-Bishop, Luigi Nezi, Federica Pinto, Miriam Potrony,
Susana Puig, Patricio Serra-Bellver, Heather M. Shaw, Sabrina
Tamburini, Sara Valpione, Amrita Vijay, Levi Waldron, Laurence
Zitvogel, Moreno Zolfo, Elisabeth G. E. de Vries, Paul Nathan,
Rudolf S. N. Fehrmann, Ve'ronique Bataille, Geke A. P. Hospers,
Tim D. Spector, Rinse K. Weersma, Nicola Segata. Cross-cohort
gut microbiome associations with immune checkpoint inhibitor
response in advanced melanoma. Nature Medicine, 2022; DOI:
10.1038/s41591-022-01695-5 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220228114419.htm

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