The Gut Microbiome as a Modulator of Anti-Tumor Immunity: Host Lifestyle, Microbial Metabolites, and Immunotherapy Response

The gut microbiome has emerged as a powerful determinant of systemic anti-tumor immunity and of the response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Unlike tumor-resident microbial communities, the intestinal microbiome shapes immunity at a distance: its composition and its metabolic output, short-chain fatty acids, bile acids, and other microbial signals, condition immune cell priming, trafficking, and effector function far beyond the gut. Crucially, the intestinal microbiome is not fixed. Modifiable host factors, in particular physical activity and metabolic state, dynamically remodel gut microbial communities and their metabolites. Yet the mechanisms linking host-driven modulation of the gut microbiome to the tumor immune microenvironment and to immunotherapy outcomes remain fragmented, and their translational potential is largely untapped.This Research Topic aims to bring together mechanistic and translational work on how modifiable host factors, with exercise and metabolism as central axes, reshape the gut microbiome and, through its signals, anti-tumor immunity and the response to and resistance against immunotherapy across cancer types. We particularly welcome contributions that connect gut microbial ecology with systemic immune reprogramming, including in musculoskeletal cancers, sarcomas, and bone-metastatic disease. By integrating gut microbiology, immuno-oncology, and exercise and metabolic physiology, the collection seeks to (1) decode the microbial signals that mediate distal immunomodulation, (2) identify gut-microbial biomarkers predictive of immunotherapy response, and (3) inform combined interventions, exercise, diet, and microbiota-directed strategies, that potentiate cancer immunotherapy.We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Perspectives, Hypothesis & Theory, Methods, and Systematic Reviews addressing themes including, but not limited to:- Effects of exercise and metabolic state on the gut microbiome and systemic anti-tumor immunity- Microbial metabolites (short-chain fatty acids, bile acids) and circulating microbial signals as mediators of distal immune modulation- The gut microbiome as a predictive biomarker of immune checkpoint inhibitor response and resistance- Combined interventions (exercise, diet, pre/probiotics, FMT) as sensitizers of cancer immunotherapy- The gut microbiome–immunity axis in musculoskeletal cancers, sarcomas, and bone metastasis- Preclinical models and clinical cohorts of the host–gut microbiome–tumor immunity axis- Please note that purely bioinformatic studies based solely on public datasets fall outside the journal's scope. Topic editors: Jie Peng, Zhiwen Luo Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84992/the-gut-microbiome-as-a-modulator-of-anti-tumor-immunity-host-lifestyle-microbial-metabolites-and-immunotherapy-response