Donated feces may be just what some cancer patients need: A small clinical trial has found evidence that fecal microbial transplants may boost the effectiveness of immunotherapy in patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancers, a finding that could pave the way for combination therapies for some of the most challenging cancer cases.
The South Korean scientists conducted the study as part of ongoing efforts to improve the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors. The drugs target specific proteins that interfere with the immune system’s ability to recognize cancer cells as a serious threat. These inhibitors, and other immunotherapies, A powerful treatment strategy For years, this therapy has allowed doctors to treat advanced cancers that were once thought to be nearly incurable, but the treatment has limitations, primarily that only some patients respond to it while others may develop drug resistance.
Some studies suggest that the gut microbiome, the population of bacteria that live along the digestive tract, may influence a person’s response to immunotherapy. That’s why some scientists are testing whether fecal microbiota transplants could boost the success of immunotherapy by resetting a person’s microbiome. Published These implants have already shown promising results using them in patients with melanoma last year, but this latest study appears to be one of the first to test them in other types of metastatic solid tumors.
The scientists recruited 13 patients with a variety of gastrointestinal cancers, all of whom had developed resistance to the anti-PD-1 inhibitors. The patients received transplants from those who had responded to immunotherapy and then received another round of the inhibitors. This time, half of the patients (six in total) showed a significant response, and five patients’ cancers stabilized.
“Our findings are [fecal microbiota transplantation] “Cells harboring a beneficial microbiota are able to overcome resistance to anti-PD-1 inhibitors in advanced solid tumors, particularly in gastrointestinal cancers,” the scientists wrote in their paper. Published In the journal earlier this month Cellular hosts and microorganisms.
This is only a small trial, so more research will undoubtedly be needed to know if these transplants could be an effective add-on to immunotherapy. But the findings may already provide valuable insight into the impact of the gut microbiome on immunotherapy. The scientists were able to identify specific bacterial strains associated with better or worse responses to inhibitors. This knowledge should help these researchers and others fine-tune these treatments in the future.
“By investigating the complex interactions within the microbiome, we hope to identify the optimal groups of microbes that can be used to improve cancer treatment outcomes,” said researcher The Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology said in a statement through Cell Press, the magazine’s publisher. “This comprehensive approach helps us understand how the entire microbial ecosystem contributes to therapeutic success.”
