Effects of Dietary Interventions on Gut Microbiota in Humans and the Possible Impacts of Foods on Patients' Responses to Cancer Immunotherapy.

The gut microbiota—the community of microorganisms in the gut—has been implicated in many physical and mental disorders in addition to intestinal diseases. Diets are the most studied and promising factors for altering it. Indeed, certain dietary interventions that increase fiber intake rapidly change levels of certain nutrients that can modify the composition of the microbiota, promoting richness and diversity. Recent intriguing evidence from several human clinical trials suggested that the composition and diversity of patients’ gut microbiotas at baseline can influence their responses to cancer immunotherapy. If the factors that influence the gut microbiota were fully understood, it is conceivable that manipulating them could boost therapeutic responses in cancer patients. In this review, we investigate the possibility of using fruits, vegetables, or whole grains to enhance response to cancer therapies in humans, as current evidence suggests that these dietary components can manipulate and enhance diversity of the gut microbiota. Accordingly, dietary interventions with locally available fruits, vegetables, and whole grains might be an affordable and safe approach to enhancing the diversity of the gut microbiota before immunotherapy, in turn improving patients’ responses to their treatments.

肠道微生物群——肠道中的微生物群落——除了与肠道疾病有关外，还与许多身体和精神疾病有关。饮食是改变肠道微生物群研究最多且最有希望的因素。事实上，某些增加纤维摄入的饮食干预措施会迅速改变某些营养物质的水平，这些营养物质可以改变微生物群的组成，促进其丰富性和多样性。最近来自几项人体临床试验的有趣证据表明，患者基线时肠道微生物群的组成和多样性会影响他们对癌症免疫治疗的反应。如果影响肠道微生物群的因素能被完全理解，那么可以想象，对这些因素进行调控可能会提高癌症患者的治疗反应。在这篇综述中，我们探讨了使用水果、蔬菜或全谷物来增强人类对癌症治疗反应的可能性，因为目前的证据表明这些饮食成分可以调控并增强肠道微生物群的多样性。因此，使用当地可得的水果、蔬菜和全谷物进行饮食干预可能是一种在免疫治疗前提高肠道微生物群多样性的经济且安全的方法，进而改善患者对治疗的反应。