Abstract
Gut microbiota plays a significant role in human physiology which includes
metabolism, nutrition uptake and immune responses. The imbalance of gut microbiota
leads to various disorders or diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, infectious
diseases, cancer and obesity. Cancer is one of the major health problems worldwide.
Moreover, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common cancer in humans which is
considered the fourth leading health problem worldwide. The role of probiotics in the
regulation of CRC includes enhancement of immune barrier function, intestinal
immune state, inhibition of enzymatic activity, cell proliferation and apoptosis, redox
homeostasis, and modifying the composition of intestinal microbiota. It can be treated
using chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or surgical eradication. However, these treatments
may cause the demolition of the intestinal mucosal barrier system as well as
dysfunction of the immune system in cancer patients. Hence, biotherapeutic drugs are
used along with probiotics and their metabolites viz. polysaccharides, short-chain fatty
acids, and inhibitory compounds like proteins and other substances to treat cancer.
Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) is a widely used probiotic strain in oncology.
Also, it has been proven to exert beneficial effects on cancer patients after anticancer
therapy. Therapeutic potential of the gut microbiome in cancer treatment via the
administration of probiotic supplementations is being investigated using several clinical
studies. Probiotic-incorporated biotheraupetic drugs are considered an alternative
medicine for various types of cancer. The effectiveness of biotheraupetic drugs mainly
depends on the dosage of probiotic strain and their exposure time. However, the
mechanism behind the role of probiotics in cancer immunity is unclear so far. The
present work summarizes the action of probiotics in anticancer immunity.