Elucidating the gut microbiota composition and the bioactivity of immunostimulatory commensals for the optimization of immune checkpoint inhibitors

• Main Authors: Romain Daillère, Bertrand Routy, Anne-Gaëlle Goubet, Alexandria Cogdill, Gladys Ferrere, Carolina Alves-Costa Silva, Aurélie Fluckiger, Pierre Ly, Yacine Haddad, Eugenie Pizzato, Cassandra Thelemaque, Marine Fidelle, Marine Mazzenga, Maria Paula Roberti, Cléa Melenotte, Peng Liu, Safae Terrisse, Oliver Kepp, Guido Kroemer, Laurence Zitvogel, Lisa Derosa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2020-01-01
• Series: OncoImmunology
• Subjects: anticancer therapeutics; gut microbiota; cancer
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2162402X.2020.1794423

Accumulating evidence from preclinical studies and human trials demonstrated the crucial role of the gut microbiota in determining the effectiveness of anticancer therapeutics such as immunogenic chemotherapy or immune checkpoint blockade. In summary, it appears that a diverse intestinal microbiota supports therapeutic anticancer responses, while a dysbiotic microbiota composition that lacks immunostimulatory bacteria or contains overabundant immunosuppressive species causes treatment failure. In this review, we explore preclinical and translational studies highlighting how eubiotic and dysbiotic microbiota composition can affect progression-free survival in cancer patients.