Diet May Impact Response to Immunotherapy in Patients With Melanoma

Source: OncLive, March 2019

Select patients with melanoma who consume a diet rich in fiber could see an improved response to treatment with immunotherapy, according to research presented during a webcast ahead of the 2019 AACR Annual Meeting.

During the webcast preview of the event, Christine Spencer, PhD, a research scientist at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, presented preliminary data on her research with colleagues at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center on the correlation between gut microbiome features and immunotherapy responses in patients with cancer.

Spencer began by stating that a minority of patients–20% to 30%–currently respond to checkpoint blockade immunotherapy. According to previous research by Spencer and her colleagues, the gut microbiome, or a collection of “trillions of microbes that live in your gut,” plays an important role in immune system regulation.