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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Cells

Gut Microbiota and Microbial Metabolites in the Regulation of Chemotherapeutic Resistance

  • Shontol Bhowmic1
  • Pritha Roy Choudhury2
  • Prodipto Das2
  • Saptak Banerjee2
  • Jayanta Chakrabarti1
  • Subir Kumar Juin3
  • Sweta Ghosh1
  1. 1Department of Surgical Oncology, Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI), Kolkata 700026, India
  2. 2Department of Immunoregulation and Immunodiagnostics, Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI), Kolkata 700026, India
  3. 3Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata 700019, India
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Abstract

Resistance to chemotherapy continues to be a significant challenge for cancer treatment and a contributing factor to treatment failures and tumor progression. Recently, the gut microbiome has emerged as an important modulator of the response to chemotherapy. Numerous pre-clinical and clinical studies have demonstrated a direct association between gut microbiota composition and therapy effectiveness in many cancer types, such as colorectal, breast, pancreatic, gastric, and lung cancers, melanoma, and hematological cancers. Gut microbiota effectively regulate the efficiency of chemotherapeutic agents in various ways, either by biotransformation of chemotherapeutic agents or modulation of host immunity. In addition, microbial metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids, secondary bile acids, and tryptophan metabolites are also involved in the regulation of chemotherapy response through modulating apoptosis, immunity, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition. Finally, dysbiosis induced by chemotherapy and antibiotics has also been reported to reduce the effectiveness of therapy. This review will emphasize the ways in which gut microbiota can modulate chemotherapeutic response and induce chemoresistance. Understanding the interactions between chemotherapeutic drugs and the gut microbiota can help to enhance the efficiency of chemotherapy and find more appropriate personalized treatments.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{bhowmic2026microbiota,
  title = {{Gut Microbiota and Microbial Metabolites in the Regulation of Chemotherapeutic Resistance}},
  author = {Shontol Bhowmic and Pritha Roy Choudhury and Prodipto Das and Saptak Banerjee and Jayanta Chakrabarti and Subir Kumar Juin and Sweta Ghosh},
  journal = {Cells},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3390/cells15211975},
  url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/15/21/1975},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Gut Microbiota and Microbial Metabolites in the Regulation of Chemotherapeutic Resistance
AU  - Shontol Bhowmic
AU  - Pritha Roy Choudhury
AU  - Prodipto Das
AU  - Saptak Banerjee
AU  - Jayanta Chakrabarti
AU  - Subir Kumar Juin
AU  - Sweta Ghosh
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/29
JO  - Cells
DO  - 10.3390/cells15211975
UR  - https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/15/21/1975
AB  - Resistance to chemotherapy continues to be a significant challenge for cancer treatment and a contributing factor to treatment failures and tumor progression. Recently, the gut microbiome has emerged as an important modulator of the response to chemotherapy. Numerous pre-clinical and clinical studies have demonstrated a direct association between gut microbiota composition and therapy effectiveness in many cancer types, such as colorectal, breast, pancreatic, gastric, and lung cancers, melanoma, and hematological cancers. Gut microbiota effectively regulate the efficiency of chemotherapeutic agents in various ways, either by biotransformation of chemotherapeutic agents or modulation of host immunity. In addition, microbial metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids, secondary bile acids, and tryptophan metabolites are also involved in the regulation of chemotherapy response through modulating apoptosis, immunity, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition. Finally, dysbiosis induced by chemotherapy and antibiotics has also been reported to reduce the effectiveness of therapy. This review will emphasize the ways in which gut microbiota can modulate chemotherapeutic response and induce chemoresistance. Understanding the interactions between chemotherapeutic drugs and the gut microbiota can help to enhance the efficiency of chemotherapy and find more appropriate personalized treatments.
SN  - 2073-4409
ER  -