Microbial metabolite enhances immunotherapy efficacy by modulating T cell stemness in pan-cancer. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38490195/)

These scientists found that the bacteria Lactobacillus johnsonii in our gut can help our immune system respond better to a type of cancer treatment called immunotherapy. They discovered that when they added Lactobacillus johnsonii or a substance called indole-3-propionic acid (IPA) to the treatment, it made the treatment more effective in fighting cancer.

They also found out that Lactobacillus johnsonii works together with another bacteria called Clostridium sporogenes to make IPA. This substance helps a specific type of immune cell called CD8(+) T cells to work better and fight cancer cells more effectively.

By studying how IPA affects the CD8(+) T cells, the scientists learned that it helps these cells to become stronger and better at fighting cancer. This discovery could potentially help improve cancer treatments for different types of cancer like melanoma, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer.

Overall, this study shows that the bacteria in our gut and the substances they produce can play a big role in how well our immune system can fight cancer. It opens up new possibilities for using these bacteria and their products to make cancer treatments more effective.

Jia D., Wang Q., Qi Y., Jiang Y., He J., Lin Y., Sun Y., Xu J., Chen W., Fan L., Yan R., Zhang W., Ren G., Xu C., Ge Q., Wang L., Liu W., Xu F., Wu P., Wang Y., Chen S., Wang L. Microbial metabolite enhances immunotherapy efficacy by modulating T cell stemness in pan-cancer. Cell. 2024 Mar 28;187(7):1651-1665.e21. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.02.022. Epub 2024 Mar 14.