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Gut microbiota in 2023

Microbiota-based biomarkers and therapeutics for cancer management

  • Year in Review
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From Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

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New light is being shed on the interactions between the gut microbiome, cancer cell signalling and the host immune response. With this knowledge, microbiota-based approaches for improving cancer prevention, prognostication and therapy have started to materialize and will contribute to reducing the global cancer burden.

Key advances

  • A Ruminococcus bromii-driven microbiome signature that correlates with immune traits predicts overall survival of patients with colorectal cancer3.

  • Carnobacterium maltaromaticum is a potential prophylactic for colorectal cancer via enhancing intestinal vitamin D biogenesis6.

  • Downregulation of PDL2 by the gut microbiome, and specifically Coprobacillus cateniformis, is required for the efficacy of anti-PD1 or anti-PDL1 immunotherapy10.

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Fig. 1: Specific microorganisms from the human gut microbiota as emerging prognostic markers and therapeutics.

References

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Acknowledgements

The authors’ laboratories are supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2020YFA0509200/2020YFA0509203), Research Talent Hub (RTH) of ITF scheme (ITS/177/21FP), Hong Kong RGC-Research Impact Fund (R4032-21F), Hong Kong RGC-Theme-based Research Scheme (T21-705/20-N), Hong Kong RGC-Collaborative Research Fund (C4039-19GF, C7065-18GF), Hong Kong RGC-General Research Fund (14110819, 14111621, 14116722) and CUHK Vice-Chancellor’s Discretionary Fund (CUHK PDFS2122-4S03).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Digestive Disease, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    William K. K. Wu & Jun Yu

  2. Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    William K. K. Wu

  3. Peter Hung Pain Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    William K. K. Wu

  4. Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Jun Yu

Authors
  1. William K. K. Wu
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  2. Jun Yu
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Correspondence to Jun Yu.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Wu, W.K.K., Yu, J. Microbiota-based biomarkers and therapeutics for cancer management. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 21, 72–73 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-023-00879-9

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