Abstract
Gut microbiota is widely considered to be one of the most important components to maintain balanced homeostasis. Looking forward, probiotic bacteria have been shown to play a significant role in immunomodulation and display antitumour properties. Bacterial strains could be responsible for detection and degradation of potential carcinogens and production of short-chain fatty acids, which affect cell death and proliferation and are known as signaling molecules in the immune system. Lactic acid bacteria present in the gut has been shown to have a role in regression of carcinogenesis due to their influence on immunomodulation, which can stand as a proof of interaction between bacterial metabolites and immune and epithelial cells. Probiotic bacteria have the ability to both increase and decrease the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines which play an important role in prevention of carcinogenesis. They are also capable of activating phagocytes in order to eliminate early-stage cancer cells. Application of heat-killed probiotic bacteria coupled with radiation had a positive influence on enhancing immunological recognition of cancer cells. In the absence of active microbiota, murine immunity to carcinogens has been decreased. There are numerous cohort studies showing the correlation between ingestion of dairy products and the risk of colon and colorectal cancer. An idea of using probiotic bacteria as vectors to administer drugs has emerged lately as several papers presenting successful results have been revealed. Within the next few years, probiotic bacteria as well as gut microbiota are likely to become an important component in cancer prevention and treatment.
Highlights
Despite the fact that cancer risk indisputably depends on genetic factors, immunological condition of the organism plays a considerable role in it, that being closely associated with probiotic bacteria and commensal bacterial flora presented mainly in the digestive tract
This paper has given an account of the role played by gut microbiota in cancer prevention and treatment
It is noteworthy that until now most of these innovative methods mentioned above have only been investigated in animal models. Clinical tests of this strategy are expected to raise a possibility of utilizing probiotic bacteria as comprehensive drug-delivery vectors for non-invasive cancer treatment in humans
Summary
Cancer is considered as one of the most significant causes of death. The treatment of tumors has received much attention in the last years; the number of people suffering neoplastic syndrome is still increasing. A growing body of research has been analyzed and reviewed for the potential application of probiotics strains in prevention and treatment of cancer. Goldin and Gorbach [1] were among the first to demonstrate the association between a diet enriched with Lactobacillus and a reduced incidence of colon cancer (40% vs 77% in controls). Probiotics have been gaining much attention due to their ability to modulate cancer cell’s proliferation and apoptosis, investigated both in vitro (Table 1) and in vivo (Table 2). Potential application of these properties in novel therapy could potentially be alternative to more invasive treatment such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy
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