The role of the sex hormone-gut microbiome axis in tumor immunotherapy

ABSTRACT

Accumulating evidence suggested that both gut microbiome and sex play a critical role in the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade therapy. Considering the reciprocal relationship between sex hormones and gut microbiome, the sex hormone-gut microbiome axis may participate in the regulation of the response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). In this review, it was attempted to summarize the current knowledge about the influences of both sex and gut microbiome on the antitumor efficacy of ICIs and describe the interaction between sex hormones and gut microbiome. Accordingly, this review discussed the potential of enhancing the antitumor efficacy of ICIs through regulating the levels of sex hormones through manipulation of gut microbiome. Collectively, this review provided reliable evidence concerning the role of the sex hormone-gut microbiome axis in tumor immunotherapy.

KEYWORDS:

• Gut microbiome
• sex hormones
• immune checkpoint inhibitors
• tumor immunotherapy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

LW plotted the figures and wrote the manuscript. LT, DZ, MS, WL, SX, SJ, MZ, HM, and JL participated in drafting the manuscript. YW and ZB reviewed/edited the manuscript before submission.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 82101925) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. ZR2021QC215)