Anticancer microflora
Discovery: Gut Bacteria Helps treat cancer
Ira Solomonova, Slon.ru based on New Scientist: Gut bacteria may help combat cancerThis conclusion was made by the research teams of two research centers at once.
They found that the presence or absence of the "right" bacteria in the intestine affects the effectiveness of anti-cancer therapy. Their work is published today by the journal Science.
Scientists came to similar results in different ways. Oncologists from the French Gustave Roussy Institute, for example, investigated the effect of cyclophosphamide (it is used in the fight against brain and blood cancer), which should stimulate the production of T cells attacking the tumor. Doctors found that the drug acts indirectly on mice with sarcoma: that is, T-cells do not appear due to cyclophosphamide itself, but due to the activation of small intestine bacteria disturbed by the drug.
To test this finding, the researchers repeated anti-cancer therapy on mice that had previously been given antibiotics to suppress bacteria. The assumptions were confirmed: for mice that were on antibiotics, the drug was much less effective. (Viaud et al., The Intestinal Microbiota Modulates the Anticancer Immune Effects of Cyclophosphamide).
A similar discovery was made by scientists from the American National Cancer Institute. They experimented with another drug, oxaliplatin, a platinum derivative used in chemotherapy. It was given to 50 mice with different types of cancer, half of which underwent a course of antibiotics, and half did not. After three control weeks, 80% of the mice from the first group died, and 80% of the second group survived. (Iida et al., Commensal Bacteria Control Cancer Response to Therapy by Modulating the Tumor Microenvironment).
All this is extremely interesting, doctors say, but, as always happens in such cases, the findings need to be properly checked. And although friendly bacteria may indeed help fight cancer, we should not forget about their hostile relatives. In short, cancer patients are categorically not advised to throw away their antibiotics yet.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru25.11.2013