MINI REVIEW article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1591745
The role of the gut microbiota in shaping the tumor microenvironment and immunotherapy of breast cancer
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China
- 2Jiangxi provincial children’s hospital, Nanchang, China
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Breast cancer is the most prevalent malignancy among women worldwide and is a major contributor to cancer-related mortality. The tumor microenvironment (TME), composed of tumor cells, immune infiltrates, fibroblasts, and vascular components, is critically involved in tumor initiation, metastatic progression, and therapeutic response. In recent years, therapies targeting the TME have undergone rapid advancements, with the objective of enhancing antitumor immunity. Concurrently, mounting evidence underscores the pivotal role of the gut microbiota and its metabolites in modulating host immunity, influencing metabolic homeostasis, inflammation, and immune equilibrium. The composition and diversity of the gut microbiome influence breast cancer progression and patients' responses to immunotherapy. Therefore, modulating the gut microbiota is a promising strategy to enhance the clinical outcomes of TME-targeted immunotherapies. In this review, we discuss the influence of gut microbiota and its derived metabolites on breast cancer progression and immunotherapy prognosis and explore potential strategies to optimize immunotherapy through gut microbiota modulation.
Keywords: breast cancer, Tumor Microenvironment, Immunotherapy, Gut Microbiota, graphical abstract
Received: 11 Mar 2025; Accepted: 13 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ren, Zheng, Huang and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaoying Ren, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.