This is ongoing research.
Cancer treatment may be aided by gut microorganisms. This research is still ongoing and being watched.
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research discovered that changing the type of microbes in the gut helped people with metastatic melanoma (a type of skin cancer that is aggressive) react to immunotherapy treatments that had previously failed them.
The study, which was published in Science on February 4, 2021, looked at 15 persons with melanoma who had not responded to either pembrolizumab (Keytruda) or nivolumab, two immunotherapy drugs (Opdivo). The nonresponders were given faecal transplants by the researchers. This process is used to transfer germs from one person's gut to another's gut by transplanting faeces from the donor into the recipient's colon. The transplants, in this case, came from cancer patients who had responded to treatment. Many of the nonresponders increased their reaction to the immunotherapy medicine after the researchers performed this surgery. The tumours decreased or their health stabilized in six of them. While additional research is needed, the authors of the study believe this is a first step toward understanding the mechanics behind gut microbes' function in cancer treatment.
Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch, Kelly Bilodeau.
