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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2025 Dec 11.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2025 Jun 27;22(9):627–639. doi: 10.1038/s41571-025-01049-3

FIG. 1 |. Microbiota, immune system and cancer: an interconnected ecosystem affected by treatment.

FIG. 1 |

a. The microbiota of patients with cancer constitutes a complex ecosystem that interacts with the immune system and is influenced by cancer and its treatments. Key immune cells, including neutrophils, lymphocytes and monocytes, engage in bidirectional interactions with the microbiota and cancer cells, shaping response to treatment and disease progression. b. Studies in patients undergoing allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) have provided insights on how cancer treatment disrupts the microbiota and how remediation strategies can restore immune balance. Treatments used for the management of patients with cancer, including chemotherapy, immunosuppressive drugs and also prophylactic antibiotics, can disturb the microbiota composition and deplete its biodiversity15,82. Autologous faecal microbiota transplantation (autoFMT) can help to restore the microbiota104, which in turn might influence immune recovery by modulating neutrophil, lymphocyte and monocyte populations9.