Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The microbiome and breast cancer: a review

  • Review
  • Published:
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The human microbiome plays an integral role in physiology, with most microbes considered benign or beneficial. However, some microbes are known to be detrimental to human health, including organisms linked to cancers and other diseases characterized by aberrant inflammation. Dysbiosis, a state of microbial imbalance with harmful bacteria species outcompeting benign bacteria, can lead to maladies including cancer. The microbial composition varies across body sites, with the gut, urogenital, and skin microbiomes particularly well characterized. However, the microbiome associated with normal breast tissue and breast diseases is poorly understood. Collectively, studies have shown that breast tissue has a distinct microbiome with particular species enriched in the breast tissue itself, as well as the nipple aspirate and gut bacteria of women with breast cancer. More importantly, the breast and associated microbiomes may modulate therapeutic response and serve as potential biomarkers for diagnosing and staging breast cancer.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A (2018) Cancer statistics, 2018. CA Cancer J Clin 68(1):7–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Sender R, Fuchs S, Milo R (2016) Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body. PLoS Biol 14(8):e1002533

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Corthay A (2014) Does the immune system naturally protect against cancer? Front Immunol 5:197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Alspach E, Lussier DM, Schreiber RD (2018) Interferon γ and its important roles in promoting and inhibiting spontaneous and therapeutic cancer immunity. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 11(3):a028480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Shreiner AB, Kao JY, Young VB (2015) The gut microbiome in health and in disease. Curr Opin Gastroenterol 31(1):69–75

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Jurjus A et al (2016) Inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer and type 2 diabetes mellitus: the links. BBA Clin 5:16–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bhatt AP, Redinbo MR, Bultman SJ (2017) The role of the microbiome in cancer development and therapy. CA Cancer J Clin 67(4):326–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Shapira I, Sultan K, Lee A, Taioli E (2013) Evolving concepts: how diet and the intestinal microbiome act as modulators of breast malignancy. ISRN Oncol 2013:693920

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Marteau P (2009) Bacterial flora in inflammatory bowel disease. Dig Dis 27(1):99–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Goedert JJ et al (2015) Investigation of the association between the fecal microbiota and breast cancer in postmenopausal women: a population-based case-control pilot study. JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst 107(8):djv147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Adlercreutz H et al (1976) Intestinal metabolism of estrogens1. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 43(3):497–505

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Org E et al (2016) Sex differences and hormonal effects on gut microbiota composition in mice. Gut Microbes 7(4):313–322

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Xuan C et al (2014) Microbial dysbiosis is associated with human breast cancer. PLoS ONE 9(1):e83744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Hunt KM et al (2011) Characterization of the diversity and temporal stability of bacterial communities in human milk. PLoS ONE 6(6):e21313

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Hieken TJ et al (2016) The microbiome of aseptically collected human breast tissue in benign and malignant disease. Sci Rep 6(1):30751

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Chan AA et al (2016) Characterization of the microbiome of nipple aspirate fluid of breast cancer survivors. Sci Rep 6:28061

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Urbaniak C, Gloor GB, Brackstone M, Scott L, Tangney M, Reid G (2016) The microbiota of breast tissue and its association with breast cancer. Appl Environ Microbiol 82(16):5039–5048

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Santen RJ (2000) Benign breast disease in women. MDText.com Inc, South Dartmouth

    Google Scholar 

  19. Patel SH, Vaidya YH, Patel RJ, Pandit RJ, Joshi CG, Kunjadiya AP (2017) Culture independent assessment of human milk microbial community in lactational mastitis. Sci Rep 7(1):7804

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Hanshew AS, Jetté ME, Thibeault SL (2014) Characterization and comparison of bacterial communities in benign vocal fold lesions. Microbiome 2:43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Alexander JL, Wilson ID, Teare J, Marchesi JR, Nicholson JK, Kinross JM (2017) Gut microbiota modulation of chemotherapy efficacy and toxicity. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 14(6):356–365

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Karin M, Jobin C, Balkwill F (2014) Chemotherapy, immunity and microbiota—a new triumvirate? Nat Med 20(2):126–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Iida N et al (2013) Commensal bacteria control cancer response to therapy by modulating the tumor microenvironment. Science 342(6161):967–970

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Viaud S et al (2013) The intestinal microbiota modulates the anticancer immune effects of cyclophosphamide. Science 342(6161):971–976

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Hymes SR, Strom EA, Fife C (2006) Radiation dermatitis: clinical presentation, pathophysiology, and treatment 2006. J Am Acad Dermatol 54(1):28–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Bray FN, Simmons BJ, Wolfson AH, Nouri K (2016) Acute and chronic cutaneous reactions to ionizing radiation therapy. Dermatol Ther (Heidelb) 6(2):185–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Hill A, Hanson M, Bogle MA, Duvic M (2004) Severe radiation dermatitis is related to Staphylococcus aureus. Am J Clin Oncol 27(4):361–363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Chumsri S (2017) Engineering gut microbiome to target breast cancer—Full Text View—ClinicalTrials.gov, 2017. [Online]. Available from https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03358511. Accessed 1 Aug 2018

  29. Montgomery L (2017) Gut microbiome effect on the neoadjuvant chemotherapy-induced immunosurveillance in triple negative breast cancer—Full Text View—ClinicalTrials.gov, 2017. [Online]. Available from https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03586297. Accessed 17 Sep 2018

  30. Fuhrman B (2016) Gut microbiome & gastrointestinal toxicities as determinants of response to neoadjuvant chemo for advanced breast cancer—Full Text View—ClinicalTrials.gov, 2016. [Online]. Available:https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02696759. Accessed 17 Sep 2018

  31. Vetizou M et al (2015) Anticancer immunotherapy by CTLA-4 blockade relies on the gut microbiota. Science 350(6264):1079–1084

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Gopalakrishnan V et al (2018) Gut microbiome modulates response to anti–PD-1 immunotherapy in melanoma patients. Science 359(6371):97–103

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Sivan A et al (2015) Commensal Bifidobacterium promotes antitumor immunity and facilitates anti-PD-L1 efficacy. Science 350(6264):1084–1089

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Routy B et al (2018) Gut microbiome influences efficacy of PD-1–based immunotherapy against epithelial tumors. Science 359(6371):91–97

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

None.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Jennifer Chen and Jacqueline Douglass have contributed equally to the work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA

    Jennifer Chen, Vishnu Prasath & Mehran Habibi

  2. Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Jacqueline Douglass

  3. Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA

    Meghan Neace

  4. Department of Surgery, UBC, Department of Surgery and Radiation Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Kelowna, Kelowna, BC, Canada

    Siavash Atrchian

  5. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Massey Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Masoud H. Manjili

  6. Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Tehran, Iran

    Shervin Shokouhi

Authors
  1. Jennifer Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jacqueline Douglass
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Vishnu Prasath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Meghan Neace
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Siavash Atrchian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Masoud H. Manjili
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Shervin Shokouhi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Mehran Habibi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

JC, JD, and VP collected and analyzed relevant literature. JC, JD, VP, and MH drafted the manuscript. JC, JD, VP, MN, SA, MM, SS, and MH critically revised the manuscript for content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mehran Habibi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, J., Douglass, J., Prasath, V. et al. The microbiome and breast cancer: a review. Breast Cancer Res Treat 178, 493–496 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-019-05407-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-019-05407-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation