Gut bacteria influence responses to immunotherapy in mesothelioma patients, study finds

Medical Xpress / University of Leicester / Nature Communications ^ | Sept. 5, 2024 | Min Zhang et al

[ConservativeMind]

A cancer study has found that certain gut bacteria may influence whether or not a patient's immune system is successful in fighting mesothelioma.

It has led experts to believe that in the future, dietary changes could improve the benefits of treatment.

Mesothelioma is an aggressive form of cancer which develops in the lining of the lungs or abdomen, and is known to be caused by exposure to the now-outlawed industrial material, asbestos.

The research team evaluated the effectiveness of two immunotherapies; atezolizumab and bevacizumab, in patients with relapsed mesothelioma.

Professor Fennell said, "We have seen that the immunotherapies we used to treat patients in this study, using immune checkpoint blockade, can achieve clinically meaningful control of mesothelioma in a proportion of patients.

"The ecosystem of bacteria that live in everyone's intestines have emerged in recent years as a significant factor associated with the body's sensitivity to immunotherapy.

"We wanted to find out how factors both inside and outside of the cancer per se, were influencing a patient's response to immunotherapy.

For the study, 26 patients with relapsed mesothelioma took part. Their average age was 68 and on average they received 4.5 cycles of immunotherapy. The patient's disease control rate after 12 weeks was assessed.

The study observed that a positive patient response was more likely if there were more anti-cancer immune cells seen in the mesothelioma. In turn, this was associated with the presence or absence of specific gut bacteria; namely Provetella, eubacterium ventriosum group and biophilia.

"A key implication of our work is that changing the gut microbiome might improve the odds of patient benefit to immunotherapy. This could be, for example, through specific changes to the diet such as increased fiber intake; something that can be actioned by the patient.

[ConservativeMind]

The paper says these bacterial families were helping in successful tumor reduction: Prevotella, Butyricioccus, Eubacterium ventriosum group, and Biophilia.

Apparently, these can be grown or enhanced with increased soluble fiber intake.

[ConservativeMind]

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[logi_cal869]

Considering that both drugs list gastrointestinal side effects - in addition to clear endocrine system adverse effects - I’m not sure whether to lol or smh...

The latter will do.

More well-spent NIH funds on another ‘study’. /s