New research explores gut microbiota ’s role in pancreatic cancer diagnosis and therapy, sparking hope for innovative screening and treatment options. Study: Gut Dysbiosis and Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Pancreatic Cancer: Current Status and Perspectives . Image Credit: TopMicrobialStock/Shutterstock.
com A recent review in Cancer Screening and Prevention examines how the gut microbiome influences immunity, metabolism, and the tumor environment in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), a cancer with one of the highest mortality rates. The review highlights gut microbiome-based anti-cancer strategies, potential for early PDAC screening through microbial signatures, and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) as a future treatment. It also addresses challenges in gut microbiome research and suggests ways to overcome them.
Background Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most common and severe type of pancreatic cancer, accounts for over 80% of cases and causes more than 446,000 deaths annually. Despite advances in treatment, PDAC has a five-year survival rate of just 10%, with nearly 90% of patients succumbing within a year due to delayed detection. Only 15–20% of cases are eligible for surgical removal at diagnosis.
Growing interest in diet and gut microbiota’s role in chronic diseases has driven metagenomic research, which explores microbial signatures for early cancer detection and potential treatments. Fecal microbiota transplantation and PDAC gut dysbi.