Uncovering the anti-tumor mechanism of intestinal bacteria: microbial short-chain fatty acids regulate CD8 + T cell responses and improve adoptive immunotherapy for cancer

A large number of bacteria in the human intestinal tract-thought to be related to the development of chronic inflammatory bowel disease, triggering diabetes, leading to obesity, and even neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease may have their causes, not to mention Depression and autism too

Since a new technology—high-throughput sequencing—achieved rapid and accurate analysis of these bacteria, the microbiome has been the focus of research for 20 years

The gut microbiota has been shown to directly affect the efficacy of specific cancer immunotherapy

Little is known about the therapeutic potential of soluble microbial molecules and metabolites in regulating the outcome of cellular cancer immunotherapy

Scientists at the University of Würzburg and the University of Marburg have now successfully demonstrated through experiments for the first time that bacterial metabolites can increase the cytotoxic activity of certain immune cells, thereby having a positive impact on the efficiency of tumor treatment

A bacterial metabolite-short-chain fatty acid valeric acid (SCFA) and butyric acid can enhance the anti-tumor effect of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells through metabolism and epigenetic reprogramming Active

"We were able to prove that short-chain fatty acid butyrate, especially valerate, can increase the cytotoxic activity of CD8 T cells," Maik Luu briefly introduced the central results of the currently published research

"When short-chain fatty acids re-encode CD8 T cells, one of the results is increased production of pro-inflammatory and cytotoxic molecules

Targeted control through the composition of the microbiome

Maik Luu said: "These results are an example of how the metabolites of intestinal bacteria can change the metabolism and gene regulation of our cells, thereby positively affecting the efficiency of tumor treatment

So far, in these cases, CAR-T therapy is far less effective than the treatment of hematological tumors (such as leukemia)

Clinical application still has a long way to go