Diet, Microbes, and Cancer Across the Tree of Life: a Systematic Review

AbstractPurpose of ReviewCancers are a leading cause of death in humans and for many other species. Diet has often been associated with cancers, and the microbiome is an essential mediator between diet and cancers. Here, we review the work on cancer and the microbiome across species to search for broad patterns of susceptibility associated with different microbial species.Recent FindingsSome microbes, such asHelicobacter bacteria, papillomaviruses, and the carnivore-associatedFusobacteria, consistently induce tumorigenesis in humans and other species. Other microbes, such as the milk-associatedLactobacillus, consistently inhibit tumorigenesis in humans and other species.SummaryWe systematically reviewed over a thousand published articles and identified links between diet, microbes, and cancers in several species of mammals, birds, and flies. Future work should examine a larger variety of host species to discover new model organisms for human preclinical trials, to better understand the observed variance in cancer prevalence across species, and to discover which microbes and diets are associated with cancers across species. Ultimately, this could help identify microbial and dietary interventions to diagnose, prevent, and treat cancers in humans as well as other animals.
Source: Current Nutrition Reports - Category: Nutrition Source Type: research