Table 2.
Summary table of representative microbes known to affect cancer therapies, as described further below.
| Cancer therapy | Cancer type(s) | Microbe (microbiome) | Implication of microbes | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radiotherapy | melanoma, lung cancer, and cervical cancer models | Gram-positive bacteria (gut) | Changes to immune responses and tumor growth inhibition | Uribe-Herranz et al., 2020102 |
| Radiotherapy | breast cancer | fungi (gut) | Changes to immune responses | Shiao et al., 2021103 |
| Chemotherapy (cyclopho-sphamide) | melanoma and sarcoma models | Lactobacillus johnsonii and Enterococcus hirae (gut) | Changes to immune responses | Viaud et al., 2013104 |
| Chemotherapy (gemcitabine) | pancreatic cancer | Gammaproteobacteria (tumor) | Inactivation of drug by bacterial metabolism | Geller et al., 2017105 |
| Chemotherapy (dacarbazine) | melanoma lung metastases model | Lactobacillus rhamnosus (lung) | Changes to immune responses | Le Noci et al., 2018106 |
| Immunotherapy (anti-CTLA-4) |
melanoma model | Bacteroides fragilis, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Burkholderia cepacia (gut) | Changes to immune responses | Vétizou et al., 2015107 |
| Immunotherapy (anti-PD-1) |
melanoma | Faecalibacterium spp. (gut) | Changes to metabolic functions and immune responses | Gopalakrishnan et al., 2017108 |
| Immunotherapy (anti-PD-L1) |
melanoma model | Bifidobacterium spp. (gut) | Changes to immune responses | Sivan et al., 2015109 |
| Immunotherapy (CpG-oligonucleotide) | lymphoma, colon cancer, and melanoma models | Alistipes spp., Ruminococcus spp., Lactobacillus spp. (gut) | Changes to immune responses and treatment-related cytotoxicity | Iida et al., 2013110 |
| Immunotherapy (CAR-T) |
B-cell lymphoma | Bacteroides spp., Ruminococcus spp., Eubacterium spp., and Akkermansia spp. (gut) | Changes to immune responses | Stein-Thoeringer et al., 2023111 |
| Allo-HSCT | various blood cancers | Eubacterium limosum and other Eubacteriaceae (gut) | Changes to graft-vs-tumor effects | Peled et al., 2017112 |
| Allo-HSCT | various blood cancers | Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae (gut) | Changes in protective metabolites | Payen et al., 2020113 |