Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University and National Cancer Institute, Klenova 1, 833 10 Bratislava, Slovak Republic.
Complement Ther Med. 2013 Dec;21(6):712-23. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2013.08.018. Epub 2013 Sep 1.
Probiotics are live microorganisms, which as drugs or food supplements help to maintain health beneficial microbial balance in the digestive tract of a human or other host. Probiotics by their properties may help strengthen homeostasis and thus reduce side effects associated with cancer treatment. Experimental evidence suggests that probiotics might have beneficial effect on the toxicity of anticancer therapy.
A computer-based literature search was carried out using PubMed (keywords: "probiotic" and "lactic acid bacteria" in association with the search terms "cancer" or "oncology" or "chemotherapy" or "radiation"); data reported at international meetings were included.
Probiotics might have beneficial effects on some aspects of toxicity related to anticancer treatment especially radiation therapy. However, reported trials vary in utilized probiotic strains, dose of probiotics and vast majority of them are small trials with substantial risk of bias. Despite limited data, it seems that probiotic bacteria as live microorganisms could be safely administered even in the setting of neutropenia.
Current evidence supporting probiotic use as adjunctive therapy to anticancer treatment is limited, especially in cancer patients treated with chemotherapy. Well designed clinical trials are needed to find true role of probiotics in oncology.
益生菌是活的微生物，作为药物或食品补充剂有助于维持人类或其他宿主消化道中有益微生物的平衡。益生菌通过其特性有助于增强体内平衡，从而减少与癌症治疗相关的副作用。实验证据表明，益生菌可能对癌症治疗的毒性有有益的影响。
使用 PubMed 进行基于计算机的文献检索（关键词：“益生菌”和“乳酸菌”与“癌症”或“肿瘤学”或“化疗”或“放疗”等搜索词结合使用）；包括国际会议上报告的数据。
益生菌可能对与癌症治疗特别是放射治疗相关的毒性的某些方面有有益的影响。然而，报告的试验在使用的益生菌菌株、益生菌剂量方面存在差异，并且绝大多数是小型试验，存在很大的偏倚风险。尽管数据有限，但似乎益生菌作为活的微生物可以在中性粒细胞减少的情况下安全给药。
目前支持将益生菌作为癌症治疗辅助治疗的证据有限，特别是在接受化疗的癌症患者中。需要进行精心设计的临床试验，以确定益生菌在肿瘤学中的真正作用。
