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REVIEW article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Cancer Cell Biology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1563184
This article is part of the Research Topic Microbiota Homeostasis and Metabolic Reprogramming in Cancer Development and Digestive Diseases View all articles
Exploring the Role of Gut Microbiota in Colorectal Liver Metastasis through the Gut-Liver Axis
Provisionally accepted- 1 West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- 2 Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences and Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
Colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM) represents a major therapeutic challenge in colorectal cancer (CRC), with complex interactions between the gut microbiota and the liver tumor microenvironment (TME) playing a crucial role in disease progression via the gut-liver axis. The gut barrier serves as a gatekeeper, regulating microbial translocation, which influences liver colonization and metastasis.Through the gut-liver axis, the microbiota actively shapes the TME, where specific microbial species and their metabolites exert dual roles in immune modulation. The immunologically "cold" nature of the liver, combined with the influence of the gut microbiota on liver immunity, complicates effective immunotherapy. However, microbiota-targeted interventions present promising strategies to enhance immunotherapy outcomes by modulating the gut-liver axis. Overall, this review highlights the emerging evidence on the role of the gut microbiota in CRLM and provides insights into the molecular mechanisms driving the dynamic interactions within the gut-liver axis.
Keywords: Colorectal cancer liver metastasis, Gut Microbiota, Metabolites, Gut-liver axis, tumor
Received: 19 Jan 2025; Accepted: 26 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Zhou, Wang and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yan Chen, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences and Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, 611731, Sichuan Province, China
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