Postbiotics, Metabolic Signaling, and Cancer

Abstract

Postbiotics are health-promoting microbial metabolites delivered as a functional food or a food supplement. They either directly influence signaling pathways of the body or indirectly manipulate metabolism and the composition of intestinal microflora. Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide and even though the prognosis of patients is improving, it is still poor in the substantial part of the cases. The preventable nature of cancer and the importance of a complex multi-level approach in anticancer therapy motivate the search for novel avenues of establishing the anticancer environment in the human body. This review summarizes the principal findings demonstrating the usefulness of both natural and synthetic sources of postbotics in the prevention and therapy of cancer. Specifically, the effects of crude cell-free supernatants, the short-chain fatty acid butyrate, lactic acid, hydrogen sulfide, and β-glucans are described. Contradictory roles of postbiotics in healthy and tumor tissues are highlighted. In conclusion, the application of postbiotics is an efficient complementary strategy to combat cancer.

The future of functional food: Emerging technologies application on prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics

“…The use of natural and synthetic sources of postbotics in the prevention and therapy of cancer were studied. Moreover, its application is an efficient complementary strategy to combat cancer, being effective in the use as postbiotic cell‐free supernatants, butyrate, lactic acid, hydrogen sulfide, and β‐glucans (Vrzáčková et al., 2021).…”

Probiotic-Based Intervention in the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis: Conventional and New Approaches

“…In contrast to normal cells, butyrate in cancer cells plays an opposite role, known as the “butyrate paradox”. Butyrate suppresses proliferation, supports differentiation, and evokes oxidative stress, leading to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis [ 175 , 176 , 177 ]. The concentration of butyrate is significantly lowered in IBD patients in comparison with healthy individuals, reflecting metabolic alterations likely caused by changes in the gut microbiota composition [ 178 , 179 , 180 ].…”

The Influence of Nutrition on Intestinal Permeability and the Microbiome in Health and Disease

“…Some components are considered protective and are beneficial for gut health. Postbiotics are metabolites of bacterial metabolism that can potentially have beneficial functions ( 174 , 175 ). Functional food production now focuses on this possible therapeutic approach to promote health.…”

“…Specific components of food, for example, ginseng or resveratrol from cabernet sauvignon grape extract, are considered to be healthy through microbial modifications ( 175 , 176 ). Generally, dietary polyphenols have an influence on lipid metabolism and related metabolic diseases through the prebiotic effect on the selection of beneficial bacteria.…”