Role of gut microbes, bile acids in fighting cancer
4月
29日
Research at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York suggests that the microbiome may go even further than improving our immune system and lowering risk of chronic diseases — by “turning bile acids into immune-boosting compounds that help the body fight cancer”, according to an April 17 2025 report in Discover magazine and Cell.
Said researcher Chun-Jun Guo, he and his team found that gut bacteria can transform bile acids, more than fifty different bile acid molecules modified by the microbiota. Among the 56 bile acids his team discovered and altered, they found four bile acid molecules that interact with sex hormones like androgen to regulate many aspects of human development.
Previous studies have shown that blocking these receptors can enhance the ability of these immune cells to fight tumors. The teams’ mice studies have proven this to be the case, enhancing T-cell responses within tumors and killing cancer cells.