Cancerworld Magazine
  • About the Magazine
    • About us
    • Editorial Team
    • Events
    • Archive
    • Contacts
  • Articles
    • Policy
    • Practice Points
    • Delivery of Care
    • Biology basic
    • Medicine
    • Featured
  • Contents
    • News
    • Editorials
    • Interviews to the Expert
    • In the Hot Seat
    • Profiles
    • Obituaries
    • Voices
  • ESO College Corner
SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Cancerworld Magazine
Cancerworld Magazine
  • About the Magazine
    • About us
    • Editorial Team
    • Events
    • Archive
    • Contacts
  • Articles
    • Policy
    • Practice Points
    • Delivery of Care
    • Biology basic
    • Medicine
    • Featured
  • Contents
    • News
    • Editorials
    • Interviews to the Expert
    • In the Hot Seat
    • Profiles
    • Obituaries
    • Voices
  • ESO College Corner
Cancerworld Magazine > News > Gut microbiome positively influences abiraterone response in prostate cancer
  • News

Gut microbiome positively influences abiraterone response in prostate cancer

  • 5 November 2020
  • Janet Fricker
gut microbiome and Abiraterone response in prostate cancer
Gut microbiome positively influences abiraterone response in prostate cancer
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0
0
0

Abiraterone acetate (AA), an agent used in castrate-resistant prostate cancer, promotes a shift towards health-associated, anti-inflammatory gut commensal bacteria, finds a study in Nature Communications. “These findings clearly demonstrate that the gut microbiome is playing a role in treatment response,” says Jeremy Burton, the study lead investigator from the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. The study, the researchers believe, represents just one example of the influence the gut microbiome is likely to be having on responses to medications.

AA is used to treat prostate cancer that has become resistant to other treatments, works by inhibiting CYP17A1, the rate-limiting enzyme implicated in androgen biosynthesis. Notably, AA is a poorly absorbed oral agent, resulting in exposure of patients gastrointestinal microbiota to unusual high levels of the drug. “While it has long been a mystery why abiraterone acetate is so effective, our team wondered if the gut microbiome plays a role,” says Burton.

Investigators collected and analysed stool samples from 68 patients with prostate cancer, including those not receiving any active treatment (n=33), those receiving traditional androgen deprivation therapy (ADT; n =21), and those receiving both ADT and treatment with orally administered AA (n=14).

Results of 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that a considerable enrichment of Akkermansia muciniphila (A. muciniphila) in samples from patients who received ADT plus AA (95%CI 0.094−2.436%) compared to ADT alone (95%CI 0.031−0.304%) and patients not receiving active treatment (controls) (95%CI 0.035−0.565%).

Using an in vitro simulated human gut microbiota model (to exclude possibilities of immune involvement) the team showed exposure to AA (250 mg/day) for 6 consecutive days, delivered a 130-fold increase in relative abundance of A. muciniphila levels within 24 hours. A. muciniphila is a commensal bacteria known to be associated with good health and to have anti-inflammatory effects.

The team also observed both AA and traditional androgen deprivation therapies demonstrated a decreased relative abundance of the androgen-utilising and pro-inflammatory Corynebacterium spp compared to the control group. “These results suggest that depletion of circulating androgen levels via systemic ADT may indirectly reduce host colonization by testosterone-metabolizing species,” write the authors.

The study further showed increases in A. muciniphila led to an increase in production of vitamin K2. Interestingly, vitamin K2 is a prospective anti-cancer agent that has been shown to target castrate-resistant prostate cancer in vitro and inhibit androgen-dependent and androgen-independent tumour growth in mouse models. Additionally, a large European prospective study demonstrated that dietary intakes of vitamin K2 were inversely associated with prostate cancer.

“Our results suggest that the efficacy of AA may be imparted through its ability to increase microbially synthesized vitamin K2 in men with prostate cancer via specific interactions with the key symbiont, A. muciniphila,” write the authors.  The latest findings, they add, build on previous studies demonstrating that A. muciniphila improves the efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors.

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Share 0
Share 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • abiraterone
  • commensal bacteria
  • Microbiome
  • prostate cancer
  • vitamin K12
Janet Fricker

Janet Fricker is a medical writer specialising in oncology and cardiology. After researching articles for Cancerworld she runs, swims, and eats porridge.

Previous Article
  • Interviews to the Expert

Cervical cancer: the SENTIX trial

  • 3 November 2020
  • Alberto Costa
View Post
Next Article
  • News

Roundtable ‘grasps nettle’ on European cancer inequalities

  • 6 November 2020
  • Janet Fricker
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • News

Six Months of CancerWorld Under p53: A Report of Renewal, Responsibility, and Reach

  • Yeva Margaryan
  • 19 August 2025
View Post
  • News

CancerWorld #106 (August 2025)

  • Yeva Margaryan
  • 15 August 2025
View Post
  • Articles
  • Medicine
  • News

Cancer Neuroscience: How Neurons Fuel Tumor Growth, and What it Means for Therapy

  • Sophie Fessl
  • 12 August 2025
View Post
  • News

BRCA1/BRCA2 Mutations Carriers at Greater Risk for Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma Associated with Breast Implants

  • Janet Fricker
  • 12 August 2025
View Post
  • News

How a Simple Photo Can Help Predict Survival in Cancer Patients: The FaceAge AI

  • Janet Fricker
  • 12 August 2025
View Post
  • Delivery of Care
  • News
  • Senza categoria

A Bold Step into Building Africa’s Cancer Atlas

  • Esther Nakkazi
  • 22 July 2025
View Post
  • News

Cannabis Use is Linked to Increased Mortality in Colon Cancer Patients

  • Janet Fricker
  • 22 July 2025
View Post
  • News

How a Brain-Destroying Protein Became Cancer’s Ally: Alpha-Synuclein Emerges as a New Target in Melanoma

  • Janet Fricker
  • 4 July 2025
search
CancerWorld #105 Download CancerWorld #105 Download CancerWorld #104 Download CancerWorld #103 Download CancerWorld #102 Download CancerWorld #101 Download or search in Cancerworld archive
Newsletter

Subscribe free to
Cancerworld!

We'll keep you informed of the latest features and news with a fortnightly email

Subscribe now
Latest News
  • Six Months of CancerWorld Under p53: A Report of Renewal, Responsibility, and Reach
    • 19 August 2025
  • CancerWorld #106 (August 2025)
    • 15 August 2025
  • Cancer Neuroscience: How Neurons Fuel Tumor Growth, and What it Means for Therapy
    • 12 August 2025
  • BRCA1/BRCA2 Mutations Carriers at Greater Risk for Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma Associated with Breast Implants
    • 12 August 2025
  • How a Simple Photo Can Help Predict Survival in Cancer Patients: The FaceAge AI
    • 12 August 2025
Article
  • Cancer Neuroscience: How Neurons Fuel Tumor Growth, and What it Means for Therapy
    • 12 August 2025
  • Michel Goldman: A Teacher Until the End
    • 12 August 2025
  • Jennifer Buell: Turning Living Cells into Living Medicines
    • 12 August 2025
Social

Would you follow us ?

Contents
  • Michel Goldman: A Teacher Until the End
    • 12 August 2025
  • Jennifer Buell: Turning Living Cells into Living Medicines
    • 12 August 2025
  • “Moving Mountains with Passion”: The Life and Legacy of Baroness Françoise Meunier
    • 22 July 2025
MENU
  • About the Magazine
    • About us
    • Editorial Team
    • Events
    • Archive
    • Contacts
  • Articles
    • Policy
    • Practice Points
    • Delivery of Care
    • Biology basic
    • Medicine
    • Featured
  • Contents
    • News
    • Editorials
    • Interviews to the Expert
    • In the Hot Seat
    • Profiles
    • Obituaries
    • Voices
  • ESO College Corner
Cancerworld Magazine
  • About us
  • Articles
  • Media Corner
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

Cancerworld is published by OncoDaily (P53 Inc.) | Mailing Address: 867 Boylston st, 5th floor, Ste 1094 Boston, MA 02116, United States | [email protected]

Archivio Cancerworld

Input your search keywords and press Enter.