A new study has identified a way to reshape the gut microbiome that can enhance the delivery of certain chemotherapies to tumors, offering a potential strategy to make nanoparticle-based cancer drugs more effective. In preclinical models, reshaping gut bacteria with a short course of antibiotics roughly doubled how long nanoparticle-based chemotherapy remained in circulation, increased drug accumulation in tumors and improved survival across multiple cancer types.
The study was led by Betty Kim, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Neurosurgery, Wen Jiang, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Radiation Oncology, and Jennifer Wargo, M.D., professor of Surgical Oncology and Genomic Medicine. Both Kim and Wargo are core members of the James P. Allison Institute™, and this research was a collaborative project through the Platform for Innovative Microbiome and Translational Research (PRIME-TR).
“For decades, scientists have tried to address how aggressively the liver filters out nanomedicine by redesigning the drugs themselves. Our research shows that the host’s biology, specifically the gut microbiome, is just as important as the particle design,” Jiang said. “This is the first study to demonstrate that the gut microbiome can directly impact chemotherapy, opening up an entirely new strategy for boosting cancer treatment.”