Improving breast cancer treatments using pharmacomicrobiomics

ABSTRACT Tamoxifen is the mainstay treatment for estrogen-positive breast cancer for over half a century. However, a significant proportion of patients experience disease recurrence due to treatment failure attributed to various factors, including disease pathology, genetics, and drug metabolism. Al...

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Main Authors: Aswin Anand Pai, Aadra Prashant Bhatt
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Society for Microbiology 2025-02-01
Series:mBio
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Online Access:https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.03422-24
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author Aswin Anand Pai
Aadra Prashant Bhatt
author_facet Aswin Anand Pai
Aadra Prashant Bhatt
author_sort Aswin Anand Pai
collection DOAJ
description ABSTRACT Tamoxifen is the mainstay treatment for estrogen-positive breast cancer for over half a century. However, a significant proportion of patients experience disease recurrence due to treatment failure attributed to various factors, including disease pathology, genetics, and drug metabolism. Alam et al. introduce gut microbiota as a key factor influencing tamoxifen pharmacokinetics (Y. Alam, S. Hakopian, L. Ortiz de Ora, I. Tamburini, et al., mBio 16:e01679-24, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01679-24). The authors present compelling evidence that functional differences in the gut microbiota, specifically the bacterial enzyme β-glucuronidase, leads to inter-individual variability in systemic exposure of tamoxifen, affecting drug efficacy. This study provides novel insights into the impact of the gut microbiota on tamoxifen pharmacokinetics, the latest example of how pharmacomicrobiomics, or the study of drug-microbe interactions, can enhance precision medicine for numerous diseases.
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spelling doaj-art-c964b8973cc647ada4036d275bee24a92025-02-05T14:00:47ZengAmerican Society for MicrobiologymBio2150-75112025-02-0116210.1128/mbio.03422-24Improving breast cancer treatments using pharmacomicrobiomicsAswin Anand Pai0Aadra Prashant Bhatt1Department of Haematology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, IndiaCenter for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease and Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USAABSTRACT Tamoxifen is the mainstay treatment for estrogen-positive breast cancer for over half a century. However, a significant proportion of patients experience disease recurrence due to treatment failure attributed to various factors, including disease pathology, genetics, and drug metabolism. Alam et al. introduce gut microbiota as a key factor influencing tamoxifen pharmacokinetics (Y. Alam, S. Hakopian, L. Ortiz de Ora, I. Tamburini, et al., mBio 16:e01679-24, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01679-24). The authors present compelling evidence that functional differences in the gut microbiota, specifically the bacterial enzyme β-glucuronidase, leads to inter-individual variability in systemic exposure of tamoxifen, affecting drug efficacy. This study provides novel insights into the impact of the gut microbiota on tamoxifen pharmacokinetics, the latest example of how pharmacomicrobiomics, or the study of drug-microbe interactions, can enhance precision medicine for numerous diseases.https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.03422-24microbiomeprecision medicinepharmacomicrobiomics
spellingShingle Aswin Anand Pai
Aadra Prashant Bhatt
Improving breast cancer treatments using pharmacomicrobiomics
mBio
microbiome
precision medicine
pharmacomicrobiomics
title Improving breast cancer treatments using pharmacomicrobiomics
title_full Improving breast cancer treatments using pharmacomicrobiomics
title_fullStr Improving breast cancer treatments using pharmacomicrobiomics
title_full_unstemmed Improving breast cancer treatments using pharmacomicrobiomics
title_short Improving breast cancer treatments using pharmacomicrobiomics
title_sort improving breast cancer treatments using pharmacomicrobiomics
topic microbiome
precision medicine
pharmacomicrobiomics
url https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.03422-24
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