Use the gut micro biome to fight cancer

[Graham49]

In her book "How to starve cancer" Jane McLelland is a big fan of getting the gut micro biome correct to fight cancer. I searched the net to see if there were any scientific papers to support this view. From the 2017 paper below it seems promising but it does not mention any human studies.

Review Article | Published: 22 May 2017

Anticancer effects of the microbiome and its products

Laurence Zitvogel, Romain Daillère, María Paula Roberti, Bertrand Routy & Guido Kroemer

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 15, pages 465–478 (2017) | Download Citation

Abstract

The human gut microbiome modulates many host processes, including metabolism, inflammation, and immune and cellular responses. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the microbiome can also influence the development of cancer. In preclinical models, the host response to cancer treatment has been improved by modulating the gut microbiome; this is known to have an altered composition in many diseases, including cancer. In addition, cancer treatment with microbial agents or their products has the potential to shrink tumours. However, the microbiome could also negatively influence cancer prognosis through the production of potentially oncogenic toxins and metabolites by bacteria. Thus, future antineoplastic treatments could combine the modulation of the microbiome and its products with immunotherapeutics and more conventional approaches that directly target malignant cells.

Key points

The evolution of cancer has been linked to shifts in the microbiome.

It will be indispensable to identify individual strains and clones (rather than phyla and genera) that have optimal anticancer effects. For this, culturomics will be superior to deep-sequencing approaches.

Therapeutic manipulation of the cancer-associated microbiome may be obtained by faecal microbiota transplantation, antibiotic treatment, prebiotics that favour the expansion of useful bacteria, dietary interventions or drugs that alter the composition of the gut flora.

In preclinical models, defined strains of live microbial agents may be used to stimulate immunosurveillance against cancers, either alone or in combination with cancer therapeutics.

Bacterial products that have potential antineoplastic or immunostimulatory properties include bacterial toxins, microbial ligands of pattern recognition receptors, as well as bacterial metabolites, including butyrate, polyamines and pyridoxine.

Drugs that modify bacterial metabolism are being developed with the scope of inhibiting the production of carcinogenic products.

[Tall_Allen]

I agree that it's an interesting area. Bacteria may influence the effectiveness of various drugs, and may change the microenvironment to make it more or less hospitable to prostate cancer cells. We have no idea if we can change it or what changes we would want to make if we could. Here's what I have in my files:

goldjournal.net/article/S00...

europeanurology.com/article...

nature.com/articles/s41391-...

europeanurology.com/article...

nature.com/articles/s41391-...

I only know of one clinical trial (in Israel):

clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show...

Obama had announced seed money for the second phase of the Human Microbiome Project in 2014, but I have no idea if it is still going on:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human...

[Graham49 in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thanks Tall_Allen

[dmt1121]

Sounds very interesting. I think there is much out there that is on track with regard to providing an inhospitable environment of e various types of cancers. I think that the issue is more about what phase is each treatment most effective. I believe most natural or organically based protocols speak more to strengthening the body's defenses that a full on assault.

If we eat better diets, were exposed to less environmental chemicals, exercised more, etc. we probably would be less susceptible to cancer. We all want "the cure" but it may be that the causes and types of cancer are so broad that, for now, we can only improve our chances for avoiding getting it and for reducing its severity.

Thanks for the information.

[pjoshea13]

Graham,

Your mention of butyrate took me back some years to when I bought some inulin to increase butyrate in the gut. I posted:

"Foods/Supplements-Vitamins: Butyric Acid, Butyrate, Sodium Butyrate - Butter"

3 years ago [1].

I negected to mention my purchase since I had been having bowel issues at the time of the purchase & worried that the inulin might make things worse. Essentially, when we populate the gut with the ideal fuel, we have no control over what that fuel will attract. Sure, we can take probiotics with the prebiotic, but ...

So I never used the inulin. Anyone out there using it?

Some of us might be getting added inulin in our diets:

From Wiki [2]: "Inulin received no-objection status as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including long-chain inulin as GRAS. In the early 21st century, the use of inulin in processed foods was due in part to its adaptable characteristics for manufacturing. It is approved by the FDA as an ingredient to enhance the dietary fiber value of manufactured foods. Its flavor ranges from bland to subtly sweet (about 10% of the sweetness of sugar/sucrose). It can be used to replace sugar, fat, and flour. This is advantageous because inulin contains 25-35% of the food energy of carbohydrates (starch, sugar). In addition to being a versatile ingredient, inulin provides nutritional advantages by increasing calcium absorption and possibly magnesium absorption, while promoting the growth of intestinal bacteria. Chicory inulin is reported to increase absorption of calcium in young women with lower calcium absorption and in young men. In terms of nutrition, it is considered a form of soluble fiber and is sometimes categorized as a prebiotic. Conversely, it is also considered a FODMAP, a class of carbohydrates which are rapidly fermented in the colon producing gas and drawing water into the colon. Although FODMAPs can cause certain digestive discomfort in some people, they produce potentially favorable alterations in the intestinal flora that contribute to maintaining health of the colon."

-Patrick

[1] healthunlocked.com/advanced...

[2] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inulin

[Gudgelm]

This is purely anecdotal and may have no relevance whatsoever but then again? I was diagnosed with Gleason 9, regional, with "several" lymph nodes involved and extracapsular extension. After a prostatectomy with lymph node dissection I participated in a docetaxel with PROSTVAC immune therapy stage 2 study at NIH. The vaccine appeared not to work and after chemo my PSA started to double, quickly. I had followed the study guidelines and did not add any unapproved therapy but after the last booster shot I saw a naturalpath. Actually she has her MD as well. They did extensive tests, including stool samples, and found my microbiome a mess. Genetic tests also indicated I was gluten intolerant. I took their supplements and cut out gluten. While on this course I saw my oncologist and went to Phoenix Molecular, was scanned, and was preparing for radiation treatment. Then, my PSA stabilized. Then it went down, little by little until it hit about .09 from a post chemo high of .40. The only thing I did differently was cut out the gluten and get my gut right. I have no clear evidence that the gut and the PROSTVAC vaccine responded, or that there was some sort of symbiotic relationship to the changes but I'm not eating gluten! No credible physician has an explanation but my oncologist has more faith in the vaccine-microbiome connection than the study coordinator.

[j-o-h-n in reply to Gudgelm]

When it comes to eating.... I'm definitely a glutton.

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Monday 12/24/2018 5:46 PM EST

[Graham49 in reply to Gudgelm]

There is some scientific support for the gut micro biome affecting the efficacy of some chemotherapy treatments, see below.

Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017 Jun;14(6):356-365. doi: 10.1038/nrgastro.2017.20. Epub 2017 Mar 8.

Gut microbiota modulation of chemotherapy efficacy and toxicity.

Alexander JL1,2, Wilson ID2, Teare J1, Marchesi JR1,3,2, Nicholson JK2, Kinross JM1,2.

Author information

Abstract

Evidence is growing that the gut microbiota modulates the host response to chemotherapeutic drugs, with three main clinical outcomes: facilitation of drug efficacy; abrogation and compromise of anticancer effects; and mediation of toxicity. The implication is that gut microbiota are critical to the development of personalized cancer treatment strategies and, therefore, a greater insight into prokaryotic co-metabolism of chemotherapeutic drugs is now required. This thinking is based on evidence from human, animal and in vitro studies that gut bacteria are intimately linked to the pharmacological effects of chemotherapies (5-fluorouracil, cyclophosphamide, irinotecan, oxaliplatin, gemcitabine, methotrexate) and novel targeted immunotherapies such as anti-PD-L1 and anti-CLTA-4 therapies. The gut microbiota modulate these agents through key mechanisms, structured as the 'TIMER' mechanistic framework: Translocation, Immunomodulation, Metabolism, Enzymatic degradation, and Reduced diversity and ecological variation. The gut microbiota can now, therefore, be targeted to improve efficacy and reduce the toxicity of current chemotherapy agents. In this Review, we outline the implications of pharmacomicrobiomics in cancer therapeutics and define how the microbiota might be modified in clinical practice to improve efficacy and reduce the toxic burden of these compounds.

PMID: 28270698 DOI: 10.1038/nrgastro.2017.20