About this Research Topic

Background

Humans coexist and coevolved with bacteria, fungus, and viral microbiome for millions of years. Interaction between the host and microbes plays an essential role in shaping the wellness of the human body. A large body of data indicates the crucial role of microbes in regulating and normal human physiology. However, new emerging data supports that imbalance in the microbiome population is correlated with pathological conditions, ranging from gastrointestinal tract (GI) disease to neuronal, metabolic, and cardiovascular complications.Compelling shreds of evidence suggest the role of microbes in the progression of pathological conditions, including cancer. Microbiota may promote cancer through various routes, either by direct or via secretion of metabolites and toxins, crucially by modifying innate and adaptive immune systems.

Epithelial barrier function is the first line of defense in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract that provides a barrier that suppresses bacterial metabolites, toxins, and other invasive bacteria into intestinal mucosa and eventually into the systemic circulation. Clinical evidence indicates that cancer in humans is associated with intestinal epithelial tight junction disruption, leading to ‘leaky gut’ and causing endotoxemia. Disruption of tight epithelial junction led to diffusion of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from the gut lumen into the intestinal mucosa and delivered to the multiple organs and promotes inflammation. Moreover, a significant amount of data demonstrated that GI-resident microbes alter the immunotherapy response in cancer, suggesting that microbial communities within the tumor microenvironment play an essential role in cancer treatment. The advancement of high-throughput next-generation sequencing opens a window to explore the role of microbiomes in the human gut, allowing us to decipher the interaction between host-microbe and cancer.

In this Research Topic, we invite original articles and reviews on the interaction between host-microbe and cancer’s immune system. Collective articles will address and dissect the mechanisms, potentially leading to the discovery and development of new formulations and diagnostics based on the microbiome.

Topics of interest include, but not limited to, the following sections:

1. Interaction between gut and tumor microbiome
2. Gut dysbiosis, junction complexes, and microbiomes’ involvement in the advancement or development of cancer
3. Crosstalk between the host-microbiota and immune system which may promote cancer
4. Identification of novel microbiome-based methodologies and strategies to manage cancer
5. Effect of gut microbiota on tumor microenvironment and identification of microbial species that may promote cancer growth and progression
6. Impact of cancer therapy on gut microbiota
7. Bacteria compositional modulation by probiotics, fecal microbiota transplantation, and antibiotics in cancer
8. Engineering microbes which can be potential cancer drugs

Advancement in this field will facilitate discovering a novel microbiome-based therapy that may prevent or treat cancer and open the horizon of new personalized treatment.

Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) will not be accepted in Frontiers in Oncology.

Keywords: Microbiota, Tumor Microbiome, Gut Dysbiosis, Cancer Therapy, Personalized Treatment

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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