Future Perspectives: Microbiome, Cancer and Therapeutic Promise

Abstract

A homeostatic balance exists between a host and its commensal microbes. Disturbance of this homeostasis, a finely tuned system can result in diseases including cancer. Investigating the imbalance of such host-microbiome interactions by comparing the healthy and dysbiotic disease states is important for understanding the pathophysiology of the associated diseases. Evidence is mounting in the field which demonstrates that the dysbiotic microbiome can trigger oncogenic activities and that the microenvironment of different types of cancers allows a distinct microbiome to thrive with the potential for having direct or indirect consequences on the disease progression. An in-depth understanding of the microbial changes and their contribution to disease will provide an informed approach to early diagnosis of these cancers, as well as development of more personalized treatment strategies, and the potential for establishment of normobiosis with microbe-associated cancers.