Gut bacteria ‘could influence effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy’

The success of immunotherapy treatments for cancer could be influenced by changes in the gut microbiome, according to new research.

A study carried out by the University of Texas and published in the journal Science has offered evidence that the type of bacteria in the gut of patients with advanced melanoma may influence their response to a certain type of immunotherapy.

For this research, stool samples were taken from 89 patients with advanced melanoma who were about to start taking an anti-PD-1 immunotherapy drug, in order to monitor trends seen in the communities of bacteria in their guts.

It was found that patients with a more diverse population of bacteria in the gut also achieved a longer period of disease control via the immunotherapy, while having more of a few certain types of bacteria in the gut was also seen to be beneficial.

Specifically, those with high levels of of bacteria from the Faecalibacterium family experienced improved rates of progression-free survival compared to others.

Professor Jennifer Wargo, who led the study, said: "You can change your microbiome – it's really not that difficult – so we think these findings open up huge new opportunities."

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