Department of Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
Department of Genomic Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2020;1244:325-334. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-41008-7_19.
The field of cancer therapy has been revolutionized through the use of immunotherapy, and treatment with these therapies now spans from early to late stage, and even into prevention. However, there are still a significant proportion of patients who do not derive long-term benefit from monotherapy and even combined therapy regimens, and novel approaches are needed to enhance therapeutic responses. Additionally, ideal biomarkers of response to immunotherapy are lacking and are critically needed. An emerging area of interest in immuno-oncology (IO) is the microbiome, which refers to the collection of microbes (and their genomes) that inhabit an individual and live in symbiosis. There is now evidence that these microbes (particularly those within the gut) impact host physiology and can impact responses to immunotherapy. The field of microbiome research in immuno-oncology is quickly emerging, with the potential use of the microbiome (in the gut as well as in the tumor) as a biomarker for response to IO as well as a therapeutic target. Notably, the microbiome may even have a role in toxicity to therapy. The state of the science in microbiome and IO are discussed and caveats and future directions are outlined to provide insights as we move forward as a field.
癌症治疗领域已经通过免疫疗法得到了彻底改变，这些疗法的治疗范围现在从早期到晚期，甚至包括预防。然而，仍有相当一部分患者不能从单药治疗甚至联合治疗方案中获得长期获益，因此需要新的方法来增强治疗反应。此外，缺乏理想的免疫治疗反应生物标志物，这是迫切需要的。免疫肿瘤学（IO）中一个新兴的研究领域是微生物组，它指的是栖息在个体身上并共生的微生物（及其基因组）的集合。现在有证据表明，这些微生物（特别是肠道中的微生物）会影响宿主的生理机能，并可能影响免疫治疗的反应。微生物组在 IO 中的研究领域正在迅速兴起，其可能作为 IO 治疗反应的生物标志物以及治疗靶点。值得注意的是，微生物组甚至可能在治疗毒性方面发挥作用。本文讨论了微生物组和 IO 的科学现状，并概述了注意事项和未来方向，为我们在该领域的进一步发展提供了思路。
