Intestinal microbiom modulates the response to antitumor immunotherapy

Abstract

Numerous studies confirm the high degree of involvement of the intestinal microbiota in most processes in the human body. There is evidence for the effect of intestinal microbiota on the success of chemo and immunotherapy of oncological diseases. It is assumed that the intestinal microbiota exhibits an indirect effect on the antitumor therapy through such mechanisms as general immunomodulation, an increase in cells that specifically respond to antigens of both microbial and tumor origin, metabolism, degradation (utilization) of drug compounds. The intestinal microbiota is currently considered as an additional, but important target for studying the effective use of antitumor therapy and reducing its toxicity, as well as a predictor of the success of immunotherapy. In this review, we highlight the results of studies published to date that confirm the relationship between gut microbiome and antitumor efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Despite the promising and theoretically substantiated conclusions, there are still some discrepancies among the existing data that will have to be addressed in order to facilitate the further development of this direction.