The Association between the Gut Microbiome and Development and Progression of Cancer Treatment Adverse Effects

Abstract

Adverse effects are a common consequence of cytotoxic cancer treatments. Over the last two decades there have been significant advances in exploring the relationship between the gut microbiome and these adverse effects. Changes in the gut microbiome were shown in multiple clinical studies to be associated with the development of acute gastrointestinal adverse effects, including diarrhoea and mucositis. However, more recent studies showed that changes in the gut microbiome may also be associated with the long-term development of psychoneurological changes, cancer cachexia, and fatigue. Therefore, the aim of this review was to examine the literature to identify potential contributions and associations of the gut microbiome with the wide range of adverse effects from cytotoxic cancer treatments.

Metabolomic, microbiome and transcriptomic study of crofelemer or loperamide in rat model of afatinib-induced intestine epithelial damage and diarrhea

“…Recent studies reveal the association of Parasutterella abundance with the activation of fatty acid biosynthesis and body weight gain (Henneke et al, 2022). In this scenario, microbiome mechanisms and microbiome-regulating strategies might play an important role in cancer treatment-associated digestive adverse effects (Maddern et al, 2023). It remains controversy in TKI-induced diarrhea whether diarrhea changes microbiome originally, or microbiome changes induce diarrhea.…”