Good bacteria can relieve the side effects of chemotherapy

In the human gut, good bacteria are great neighbors.

A new study at Northwestern University found certain types of intestines Bacteria Can protect others Good bacteria From cancer Treatment — Reduces the harmful changes caused by the drug Gut microbiota.. by metabolizing Chemotherapy drug, Protective bacteria can reduce the short-term and long-term side effects of treatment.

Ultimately, this study could lead to new dietary supplements, probiotics, or designed treatments that help promote gut health in cancer patients.Chemotherapy-related changes in the microbial flora in children Health complications Discovering new strategies to protect the intestines in later years, such as obesity, asthma and diabetes, is especially important for childhood cancer patients.

“We were really inspired by the bioremediation of using microbes to cleanse polluted environments,” said Erica Hartman, lead author of research at Northwestern University. “Usually bioremediation is applied to groundwater and soil, but here it is applied to the intestines. We know that certain bacteria can destroy toxic cancer treatments. Decompose drugs By doing so, I wondered if these bacteria could protect the surrounding microorganisms. According to our research, the answer is yes. If some bacteria can break down toxins fast enough, it is a microorganism. It provides a protective effect on the crowd.

The study will be published in the journal on May 26th mSphere..

Hartman is an assistant professor of environmental biology at the McCormick Institute of Engineering at Northwestern University. Ryan Brostein, a former postdoc in Hartmann’s lab, is the first author of this treatise. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health.

Cancer treatment not only saves lives, but also causes very serious and painful side effects, including gastrointestinal problems. Chemotherapy, in particular, can eliminate healthy and “good” bacteria. Human intestine..

“Chemotherapeutic drugs do not distinguish between killing cancer cells and killing microbes,” Hartman said. “Microbes in the gut help digest your food and keep you healthy. Killing these microbes is especially harmful to children because they are destroyed early in life. And there is evidence that it can lead to potential health conditions in later years.

Hartmann’s lab studied from Laoultera Planticola in collaboration with Dr. Patrick Seed, a professor of pediatrics and microbiology-immunology at the Northwestern University School of Medicine at the Fineberg School of Medicine. Raoultella planticola occurs naturally in small amounts in the human intestine and can break down chemotherapeutic agents Doxorubicin, Has been proven in other studies.

To test whether this degradation effect could protect the entire microbial flora, the team developed a simplified version. Microbial communityIt contained various types of bacteria commonly found in the human intestine. The “simulated intestinal community” includes bacterial strains that excel in degrading doxorubicin (Escherichiacoli and Klebsiellapneumoniae), strains that are particularly sensitive to doxorubicin (Clostridium innocuum and Lactobacillusrhamnosus), and one strain that is resistant to doxorubicin (Clostridium innocuum and Lactobacillusrhamnosus). Enterococcus faecium) is included. it was. But it doesn’t break it down.

The team then exposed these simulated intestinal communities to doxorubicin and found an improvement in the survival of susceptible strains. Researchers have concluded that by breaking down doxorubicin, certain bacteria reduce the toxicity of the drug to the rest of the intestine.

Research highlights promising new pathways for potentially protecting cancer patients, but Hartman warns that translating new discoveries into treatment is still a long way off.

“There are some final applications that will help cancer patients, especially pediatric patients, not experience such serious side effects,” she said. “But that’s a long way to go,” he said.