Abstract
Alterations in gut microbiota impact the pathophysiology of several diseases, including cancer. Radiotherapy (RT), an established curative and palliative cancer treatment, exerts potent immune modulatory effects, inducing tumor-associated antigen (TAA) cross-priming with antitumor CD8+ T cell elicitation and abscopal effects. We tested whether the gut microbiota modulates antitumor immune response following RT distal to the gut. Vancomycin, an antibiotic that acts mainly on gram-positive bacteria and is restricted to the gut, potentiated the RT-induced antitumor immune response and tumor growth inhibition. This synergy was dependent on TAA cross presentation to cytolytic CD8+ T cells and on IFN-γ. Notably, butyrate, a metabolite produced by the vancomycin-depleted gut bacteria, abrogated the vancomycin effect. In conclusion, depletion of vancomycin-sensitive bacteria enhances the antitumor activity of RT, which has important clinical ramifications.
Authors
Mireia Uribe-Herranz, Stavros Rafail, Silvia Beghi, Luis Gil-de-Gómez, Ioannis Verginadis, Kyle Bittinger, Sergey Pustylnikov, Stefano Pierini, Renzo Perales-Linares, Ian A. Blair, Clementina A. Mesaros, Nathaniel W. Snyder, Frederic Bushman, Constantinos Koumenis, Andrea Facciabene
Graphical abstract
Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)