ABOVE: Colonies of baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)—a common gut fungal community member—and bacteria
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In recent years, researchers have discovered that bacteria in the gut are necessary for robust responses to chemotherapy and immunotherapy, but their effects on radiation therapy remained unknown. Now, research published in Cancer Cell on July 29 demonstrates that not only are gut bacteria vital to radiation’s ability to fight tumors, but fungi—less famous members of the gut microbiome—may act as additional key regulators of the antitumor immune response.
The paper “represents the first demonstration that intestinal fungi may affect anti-cancer radiotherapy,” writes Giorgio Trinchieri, a cancer and immunology researcher at the National Cancer Institute who was not involved with the work, in an email to The Scientist. “I consider this paper an important contribution to the field.”
Researchers know that gut bacteria and fungi affect immune system function, and recent studies have shown that ...
