Molecules Produced By Gut Bacteria Could Help the Human Body Fight Cancer 21
The molecules produced by stomach bacteria could give the human body a helping hand when it comes to the immune system, even going so far as to help fight tumors. ScienceAlert reports: "The results are an example of how metabolites of intestinal bacteria can change the metabolism and gene regulation of our cells and thus positively influence the efficiency of tumor therapies," says immunologist Maik Luu from University Hospital Wurzburg in Germany. Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are one of the helpful molecules produced when dietary fiber is fermented in the gut. Major SCFAs are acetate and butyrate, along with the less common pentanoate, found only in some bacteria. All of these SCFAs have a bunch of positive health effects in humans, such as the regulation of insulin resistance, cholesterol, and even appetite. Luu and colleagues have now found that butyrate and pentanoate also boost the anti-tumor activity of a type of killer T cell known as CD8, by reprogramming the way they work. For the first time, they have experimentally demonstrated this in mice.
Using lab mice, the team found that certain commensal bacteria produce pentanoate. For example, one relatively rare human gut bacterium, Megasphaera massiliensis, enhanced small proteins called cytokines in the killer T cells, leading to an increased ability to destroy tumor cells. As a control, the team experimented with other, non-pentanoate producing bacteria and found no effect on the cytokine levels. This finding could be particularly useful for therapies that leverage the immune system to fight cancer. Some tumor cells have proteins on their surfaces that can bind to proteins on T cells, resulting in an immune 'checkpoint' response which tells the killer cell to spare its target -- in this case, the cancer cell. Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy works by blocking these checkpoint proteins, allowing the T cells to do their job and destroy the tumor cells. [...] The team also looked at a genetically modified type of T cell called CAR-T cells which are used in immunotherapy, and found that the bacterial assistance worked the same way, particularly on solid tumors. The research has been published in Nature Communications.
Using lab mice, the team found that certain commensal bacteria produce pentanoate. For example, one relatively rare human gut bacterium, Megasphaera massiliensis, enhanced small proteins called cytokines in the killer T cells, leading to an increased ability to destroy tumor cells. As a control, the team experimented with other, non-pentanoate producing bacteria and found no effect on the cytokine levels. This finding could be particularly useful for therapies that leverage the immune system to fight cancer. Some tumor cells have proteins on their surfaces that can bind to proteins on T cells, resulting in an immune 'checkpoint' response which tells the killer cell to spare its target -- in this case, the cancer cell. Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy works by blocking these checkpoint proteins, allowing the T cells to do their job and destroy the tumor cells. [...] The team also looked at a genetically modified type of T cell called CAR-T cells which are used in immunotherapy, and found that the bacterial assistance worked the same way, particularly on solid tumors. The research has been published in Nature Communications.
Stomach is different than intestine (Score:3, Informative)
would be a good TV format (Score:4, Funny)
Do you have the guts to fight cancer?
More after the break.
Depends on how we look at it (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe cancer is the baseline human condition and the gut bacteria ensure their survival by preventing us from having cancer too early https://youtu.be/XQyM-vXD5KI?l... [youtu.be]
Re:Depends on how we look at it (Score:4, Informative)
Got it! (Score:2)
Instead of letting them rip, we clench our teeth and buttocks to keep them in.
makes sense... (Score:2)
You have to go through the gutter and see some real shit to fight for survival these days...
Glad, but . . . (Score:5, Informative)
I'm glad to see the "mainstream" come around to some recognition of the true importance of our microbiome. I really am. It will prevent a lot of suffering and death.
However, this is not news to anyone in the alternative medicine community. Not news at all. It's been known for 20 years or longer that we are symbiotic with our microbiome, that it is a necessary and integral part of our immune system, and that messing with it generally messes with us.
For instance, it's why herbicides and pesticides that were selected and/or designed to not target any human metabolic pathways often manage to hurt us anyway. They often kill off beneficial microbes in our gut, allowing harmful to thrive instead, and thereby cause us harm.
Probably why artificial sweeteners harm us.
Probably why various environmental toxins tend to provoke autoimmune responses.
Probably why factory-farmed animals, who are pumped with insane levels of antibiotics, tend to dramatically shorten our lives, even more than can be explained by antibiotic resistance.
Probably related to metabolic syndrome.
The mainstream will eventually concede all of the above, but likely not for a while. The science is there. But the unfortunate tendency in our society is that the science, no matter how valid or compelling, tends to go nowhere until and unless it attracts the attention of big players with big money.
Until this problem can be fixed, somehow, it will always pay to hear out "alternative" medicine. Critically of course. It is still filled with quacks and frauds (just as is the mainstream) but it also is willing to report, and insofar as is lawful to act, on studies that the mainstream won't, for years or possibly decades.
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What fibers, what foods?
What to eat, what to avoid?
Re: Glad, but . . . (Score:3, Informative)
Lots of books on it. Basically all the stinky green veggies...cabbage, brocolli etc. Also blue cheese , shit like that.
https://stories.uq.edu.au/cont... [uq.edu.au]
Re:Glad, but . . . (Score:4, Informative)
Ironically, given that it is science too "new" for the mainstream, it's really not drastically different than the advice doctors gave 75 years ago, before the field of medicine, including nutritional medicine, became overly politicized.
Note: I'm not a doctor, not your doctor, don't play one on TV, this isn't medical advice, and you should check with your own doctor before undertaking any of the following. But here is the advice I would give my family and friends if I were legally qualified to do so.
* Any fiber is good, and both soluble and insoluble fiber are important, for different reasons.
* Avoid toxins insofar as possible.
* Use antibiotics only when absolutely necessary. Follow up with probiotics afterwards as well as fermented foods, yogurts, and other things with beneficial microbes.
* Limit sugar and artificial sweeteners (though more natural sweeteners like stevia or monkfruit might be acceptable - the science is still out but they are *probably* ok and almost certainly better than the alternatives).
* Go for more fresh fruits and veggies, and limit things with a high calorie to nutrient ratio such as white flours, sugars, and pasta. Not trying to be racist. But bleaching out the natural colors of these things is precisely what makes them harmful, by also bleaching out most of the nutrients.
* Consume meat only in moderation if at all, and especially factory-farmed varieties thereof, the latter of which are full of antibiotics, herbicides, pesticides, hormones, and other forms of nastiness.
* Supplement appropriately. Most of us need more vitamin D than we can get from food, and don't get enough sun exposure to make up the difference. People who don't eat much seafood need iodine. People who don't eat fresh fruits and veggies every day need vitamin C. Vegans and people over 50 usually need B12, and in some cases may need monthly shots rather than pills. I have a regimen of about 12 supplements that meets my own nutritional needs, but this will vary by person and by environment.
* Consider the science, rather than the government, as the proper source of how much of various nutrients, especially but not exclusively vitamins C and D, we truly need. (Hint: you need only a little to prevent scurvy or rickets, which are basically what the RDA is set to prevent; you need WAY more than that for optimum health.)
* With regard to vitamin D, it's way better to get as much as you can from sun. The body self-regulates absorption from skin, but rates of absorption when taken orally as food or supplements differ significantly from one person to the next. Blood testing is the best way, possibly the only way, for people in low-sun environments, such as myself, to determine how much intake is needed to reach optimum blood concentrations.
* Include appropriate amounts of both cardio and strength training into your routine. (Doesn't need to, and shouldn't, be so much as to cause undue discomfort or risk of injury.)
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In addition, it is important to note that "red" meats (beef, pork) contain large amounts of carnitine, that encourage a gut biome that produces TMAO, which in turn causes heart disease. [nih.gov]
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In addition what others have said, also consider that earthworms don't have teeth to pre-digest their food (organic matter), so they are basically little reactors full of gut micro-organisms: food goes in one side, gets digested, and is pooped out (together with a lot of the multiplying micro-organisms) the other side. Earth worm castings is considered probably the most fertile
Re: (Score:2)
I'm glad to see the "mainstream" come around to some recognition of the true importance of our microbiome.
And the Macrobiome [xkcd.com] ... :-)
So we can ultimately cure cancer by eating it? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)