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Human anaerobic microbiome: a promising and innovative tool in cancer prevention and treatment by targeting pyruvate metabolism

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Abstract

Introduction

Even in present-day times, cancer is one of the most fatal diseases. People are overwhelmed by pricey chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and other costly cancer therapies in poor and middle-income countries. Cancer cells grow under anaerobic and hypoxic conditions. Pyruvate is the final product of the anaerobic glycolysis pathway, and many cancer cells utilize pyruvate for their growth and development. The anaerobic microbiome produces many anti-cancer substances that can act as anti-tumor agents and are both feasible and of low cost. There are different mechanisms of action of the anaerobic microbiome, such as the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and competition for the anaerobic environment includes the metabolic product pyruvate to form lactic acid for energy.

Key findings

In this review, we have summarized the role of the metabolic approach of the anaerobic human microbiome in cancer prevention and treatment by interfering with cancer metabolite pyruvate. SCFAs possess decisive outcomes in condoning almost all the hallmarks of cancer and helping the spread of cancer to other body parts. Studies have demonstrated the impact and significance of using SCFA, which results from anaerobic bacteria, as an anti-cancer agent. Anaerobic bacteria-based cancer therapy has become a promising approach to treat cancer using obligate and facultative anaerobic bacteria because of their ability to penetrate and increase in an acidic hypoxic environment.

Significance

This review attempts to provide the interconnection of cancer metabolism and anaerobic microbiome metabolism with a focus on pyruvate metabolism to understand and design unique anaerobic microbiota-based therapy for cancer patients.

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No data was used for the research described in the article.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Central University of Punjab for its research and academic support and for providing infrastructural facilities.

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  1. Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Sciences, Central University of Punjab, VPO Ghudda, Bathinda, Punjab, 151401, India

    Hari Om, Umesh Chand & Pramod Kumar Kushawaha

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  1. Hari Om
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HO intellectualized the review article. HO and UC wrote the article, and PKK assisted in conceptualization and compilation.

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Correspondence to Pramod Kumar Kushawaha.

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Om, H., Chand, U. & Kushawaha, P.K. Human anaerobic microbiome: a promising and innovative tool in cancer prevention and treatment by targeting pyruvate metabolism. Cancer Immunol Immunother 72, 3919–3930 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-023-03551-y

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