Can the intestinal flora promote cancer growth?

There are countless tiny microorganisms living in our intestines
.
They constitute the human microbiome and are inextricably linked to health

Earlier, researchers discovered that gender itself affects the development of intestinal flora
.
In men and women, different flora compositions can be observed

This makes people think that the intestinal flora may be related to prostate cancer
.
Prostate cancer is a type of cancer driven by androgens.

Probably! In patients receiving standard treatment, the researchers found that the number of some bacteria has increased, and the gene pathways related to hormone synthesis in these bacteria are also more active

In other words, these intestinal flora may weaken the effectiveness of prostate cancer therapy
.
In order to prevent cancer from growing, doctors will use drugs to reduce the amount of androgens in the patient's body, and these intestinal flora have to work against them, secretly synthesize more androgens in the human body.

Following this line of thinking, a simple way to fight cancer was born-the use of antibiotics
.
Since these bacteria can promote the growth and resistance of prostate cancer, what happens when antibiotics are used to kill these bacteria?

In experiments, scientists found that after using antibiotics to kill the intestinal flora of mice, their tumors grew more slowly and it was more difficult to develop drug resistance
.
And if the intestinal flora of mice that have developed drug resistance are transplanted into mice with low androgen levels, it will also promote the tumor growth of the latter

▲Schematic diagram of this research (picture source: reference [2])

These results clearly show that the androgens synthesized by these intestinal flora are closely related to the growth of prostate cancer and are one of the reasons why the current treatments ultimately fail
.

Subsequent studies further clarified the mechanism of androgen synthesis by these intestinal flora
.
It turns out that they synthesize androgen precursor molecules to produce androgens

Previously, scientists have discovered that the intestinal flora can interfere with the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy
.
Today’s study has once again emphasized the importance of intestinal flora for cancer

Note: The original text has been deleted

Reference materials:

[1] Nicolò Pernigoni et al.
, (2021), Commensal bacteria promote endocrine resistance in prostate cancer through androgen biosynthesis, Science, DOI: 10.
1126/science.
abf8403

[2] Gut bacteria enable prostate cancer growth, Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https:// bugs' can drive prostate cancer growth and treatment resistance, Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://