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Nanotechnology intervention of the microbiome for cancer therapy

Nature Nanotechnology volume 14, pages 1093–1103 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

The microbiome is emerging as a key player and driver of cancer. Traditional modalities to manipulate the microbiome (for example, antibiotics, probiotics and microbiota transplants) have been shown to improve efficacy of cancer therapies in some cases, but issues such as collateral damage to the commensal microbiota and consistency of these approaches motivates efforts towards developing new technologies specifically designed for the microbiome–cancer interface. Considering the success of nanotechnology in transforming cancer diagnostics and treatment, nanotechnologies capable of manipulating interactions that occur across microscopic and molecular length scales in the microbiome and the tumour microenvironment have the potential to provide innovative strategies for cancer treatment. As such, opportunities at the intersection of nanotechnology, the microbiome and cancer are massive. In this Review, we highlight key opportunistic areas for applying nanotechnologies towards manipulating the microbiome for the treatment of cancer, give an overview of seminal work and discuss future challenges and our perspective on this emerging area.

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Fig. 1: The role of bacteria and the microbiome in the tumour microenvironment.
Fig. 2: The current nanotechnology toolbox can be applied for microbiome intervention strategies.
Fig. 3: Nanotechnology to interfere with microbiome signals/metabolites.
Fig. 4: Examples of nanotechnology that manipulate or respond to microbiome signals/metabolites.
Fig. 5: Nanotechnology strategies for microbiome modulation.
Fig. 6: Examples of nanotechnologies used for microbiome modulation.
Fig. 7: Microbe-inspired nanotechnologies.
Fig. 8: Examples of microbe- or microbiome-inspired nanotechnologies.

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Acknowledgements

W.S. would like to acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51673185, 51973215). A.C.A. would like to acknowledge support from the Carolina Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (C-CCNE) Pilot Grant Program supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute (5U54CA198999-04). L.H. is supported by NIH grant CA198999.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Jilin Biomedical Polymers Engineering Laboratory, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, People’s Republic of China

    Wantong Song

  2. Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Aaron C. Anselmo & Leaf Huang

  3. Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Leaf Huang

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Song, W., Anselmo, A.C. & Huang, L. Nanotechnology intervention of the microbiome for cancer therapy. Nat. Nanotechnol. 14, 1093–1103 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-019-0589-5

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