Gut Bacteria and Immunotherapy - 1271905

scohn
Posts:237

OK, I have a question which might be odd. My wife is starting Opdivo today, and in the process of looking up the therapy and potential side effects we found several recent studies (mainly in mice) showing the enhancement of immunotherapy effectiveness by having a healthy and diverse set of bacteria in the gut. See for example, some summaries of the studies at:

http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2015/11/06/gut-bacteria-can-dramatical…

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2015/11/04/science.aad1329

http://www.aaas.org/news/gut-bacteria-are-linked-success-cancer-treatme…

My question is whether anyone here is on Opdivo and has been using probiotics, or whether their Drs. have mentioned probiotic use while on Opdivo.

Thanks.

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Reply # - November 20, 2015, 04:25 PM

JimC
Posts: 2753

Hi scohn,

This subject came up not long ago, and the short answer is that it just isn't known whether probiotics would be helpful, potentially harmful or have no effect. That lack of information about the interaction between a cancer treatment and supplements is not unusual, because it just isn't feasible to test such therapies with all the different formulations which exist. You can read my response to the previous thread here.

JimC
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Reply # - November 23, 2015, 01:04 PM

catdander
Posts:

schon, I wanted to add that yogurt is often added to the diet when the gut has digestive problems and when antibiotics are being taken. In the link below is Memorial Sloan Kettering suggestions for nutrition during treatment including immunotherapy. Yogurt is mentioned 16 times throughout several different side effects issues.

Hope this helps,
Janine

https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/patient-education/eating-well-during-…

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