Microbiome Link with Colorectal Cancer Drug Toxicity Points to Predictive Tests and Prevention

Studies by scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York offer new insights into how gut microbiome composition and enzyme activity impact on the likelihood that cancer patients will suffer potentially life-threatening diarrhea following treatment with the chemotherapy agent irinotecan. The findings indicate that it may be possible to use simple gut microbiome sampling tests to predict drug response, but also suggest that specific enzyme-inhibiting drugs could be developed to