Unveiling the hidden players: exploring the role of gut mycobiome in cancer development and treatment dynamics

ABSTRACT

The role of gut fungal species in tumor-related processes remains largely unexplored, with most studies still focusing on fungal infections. This review examines the accumulating evidence suggesting the involvement of commensal and pathogenic fungi in cancer biological process, including oncogenesis, progression, and treatment response. Mechanisms explored include fungal influence on host immunity, secretion of bioactive toxins/metabolites, interaction with bacterial commensals, and migration to other tissues in certain types of cancers. Attempts to utilize fungal molecular signatures for cancer diagnosis and fungal-derived products for treatment are discussed. A few studies highlight fungi’s impact on the responsiveness and sensitivity to chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and fecal microbiota transplant. Given the limited understanding and techniques in fungal research, the studies on gut fungi are still facing great challenges, despite having great potentials.

KEYWORDS:

• Gut mycobiome
• cancer development
• cancer treatment
• Candida
• Malassezia
• Aspergillus

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82073115); the National Key Research and Development Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology (2022YFE0125300); the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission-Gaofeng Clinical Medicine Grant (no. 20152512).

Disclosure statement

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

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

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [82073115].