Gut microbiome has received significant attention for its influences on a variety of host functions, especially immune modulation. With the next-generation sequencing methodologies, more knowledge is gathered about gut microbiome and its irreplaceable role in keeping the balance between human health and diseases is figured out. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are one of the most innovational cancer immunotherapies across cancer types and significantly expand the therapeutic options of cancer patients. However, a proportion of patients show no effective responses or develop immune-related adverse events when responses do occur. More important, it is demonstrated that the therapeutic response or treatment-limiting toxicity of cancer immunotherapy can be ameliorated or diminished by gut microbiome modulation. In this review, we first introduce the relationship between gut microbiome and cancer immunotherapy. And then, we expound the impact of gut microbiome on efficacy and toxicity of cancer immunotherapy. Further, we review approaches to manipulating gut microbiome to regulate response to ICIs. Finally, we discuss the current challenges and propose future directions to improve cancer immunotherapy via gut microbiome manipulation.
Keywords: cancer immunotherapy; gut microbiome; immunotherapy response; immunotherapy toxicity; microbiome manipulation.
© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.