Probiotics in microbiome ecological balance providing a therapeutic window against cancer

• Published in: Seminars in cancer biology 2021-05, Vol.70, p.24-36
• Main Authors: Sehrawat, Nirmala, Yadav, Mukesh, Singh, Manoj, Kumar, Vikas, Sharma, Var Ruchi, Sharma, Anil K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents - administration & dosage; Cancer; Dysbiosis; Ecology; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Gut microbiota; Homeostasis; Humans; Microbiome; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Neoplasms - microbiology; Prebiotics; Prebiotics - administration & dosage; Probiotics; Therapeutic
• ISSN: 1044-579X; 1096-3650
• DOI: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2020.06.009

The gut microbiota composition and dietary factors in our food along with the use of prebiotics and probiotics play an important role in the maintenance of human health. A well-balanced gut microbial population is necessary for the host and the microbiota to coexist in a mutually beneficial relationship maintaining homeostasis. Considering the potential of modern technological tools, it is possible nowadays to engineer prebiotic bacteria having a positive influence on the microbiome on one hand while on the other one may have the ease to get rid of the pathogenic proinflammatory microbes or elements causing dysbiosis. Past studies have seen that in cancer there is a loss of inter-microbial relationship cum interactions within microbiota members, the metabolic products produced by them and the host immune system in a microbial ecosystem, leading to dysbiosis. Current review highlights the importance of probiotics in the management of cancer by bringing together majority of the studies together at a single platform and moreover, stresses upon the need to maintain eubiosis in order to evade and inhibit the progression of cancer. Continuous expansion in knowledge about probiotics, their effect on various cancers and the underlying mechanism of action has raised the global scientific interest towards their possible use against different cancers. Furthermore, the article emphasizes upon the need to explore newer therapeutic targets comprising of the microbiome which could further pave the way to the concept of personalized medicines for various kinds of malignancies so as to derive maximum benefits of a treatment modality and to preserve the microbial homeostasis.