A new study by researchers from Sun Yat-sen University reveals how gut microbes influenced by a high-fat diet (HFD) can accelerate the progression of cancer. The team established various cancer models in mice and discovered that a high-fat diet nurtures certain microbiota that release abundant leucine, an amino acid commonly found in many proteins.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, highlights that elevated levels of leucine in peripheral blood are associated with poorer clinical outcomes in female breast cancer patients. Furthermore, abnormal gut microbiota have been linked to resistance against chemotherapy and some immune therapies for breast cancer, lung cancer, and melanoma.
These findings open new avenues for anticancer strategies by targeting the aberrant metabolism of gut microbiota, offering hope for more effective treatments.
Reference(s):
Fat-nurtured microbes in gut promote cancer progression: study
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