Your body is home to many bacteria, viruses, and fungi, which are collectively called the microbiome. Most of the microbiome consists of bacteria in your digestive system. These bacteria can be beneficial or harmful. The harmful bacteria cause disease, and the beneficial bacteria help keep you healthy.
Did you know that the microbiome can affect how breast cancer spreads and how well certain cancer medications work? Because the microbiome is easily changed by diet and medications, researchers hope that someday the microbiome can be changed to improve outcomes for people with cancer.
Read below to learn more about the microbiome and how the microbiome may play a role in cancer treatment.
Introduction to the Microbiome
- Harvard University: What is the Microbiome?
- University of Chicago: Introduction to the Microbiome
The Microbiome and Breast Cancer
- Practice Update: Different compositions of gut bacteria in people with MBC are associated with response or non-response to CDK4/6 inhibitors
- Breast Cancer Now: Gut Bacteria and Breast Cancer
- American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO): Unhealthy Gut Bacteria May Allow Breast Cancer to Spread
- University of Virginia: Research into the Gut Microbiome and the Spread of Breast Cancer
- University of Virginia (Article and Video): The Gut Microbiome and Breast Cancer
- Journal Article: The Microbiome and Immunotherapy in Breast Cancer
MBC Clinical Trials
- Metastatic Trial Search: Trials Studying the Microbiome
Last Modified on September 22, 2023