{"id":619471,"date":"2026-08-04T06:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T06:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/619471\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T06:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T06:48:12","slug":"reshaping-the-gut-microbiome-to-boost-chemotherapy-healthcare-in-europe-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/619471\/","title":{"rendered":"Reshaping the gut microbiome to boost chemotherapy \u2022 healthcare-in-europe.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"fancybox content-img\" rel=\"fancybox nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/healthcare-in-europe.com\/media\/story_section_text\/45824\/image-01-wen-jiang-portrait_hires.jpg\" title=\"Wen Jiang, M.D., Ph.D.\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image-01-wen-jiang-portrait.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait photo of Wen Jiang\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Wen Jiang, M.D., Ph.D.<\/p>\n<p>Image source: University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor decades, scientists have tried to address how aggressively the liver filters out nanomedicine by redesigning the drugs themselves. Our research shows that the host\u2019s biology, specifically the gut microbiome, is just as important as the particle design,\u201d Jiang said. \u201cThis is the first study to demonstrate that the gut microbiome can directly impact chemotherapy, opening up an entirely new strategy for boosting cancer treatment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Nanoparticle-based chemotherapy \u2013 drugs packaged inside microscopic carriers like liposomes or albumin particles \u2013 is used to treat a range of cancers, including breast, ovarian and pancreatic. However, most of the therapy never reaches the tumor because immune cells in the liver, called Kupffer cells, aggressively clear the drug particles from the body.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Gut bacteria send chemical signals to those liver cells through molecules called bile acids, which are natural chemicals produced when gut bacteria process bile. When a commonly used antibiotic called metronidazole was administered to selectively reduce certain gut bacteria, bile acid levels dropped, causing the Kupffer cells to shift into a \u201cquiet\u201d state.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the Kupffer cells cleared fewer of the nanomedicine particles, allowing for extended circulation and increased accumulation in the tumor. This translated to significantly slowed tumor growth and prolonged survival in preclinical models of colon, breast, melanoma and pancreatic cancers.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wen Jiang, M.D., Ph.D. Image source: University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center \u201cFor decades, scientists have tried&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[74],"tags":[261598,18,261599,19,17,2668,82,261597],"class_list":["post-619471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-wenjiang-nano-bsky-social-and-jennifer-wargo","tag-eire","tag-from-mdanderson-bsky-social","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-md","tag-technology","tag-x-led-by-utmdanderson-brled-by-mdanderson-brled-by-bettykimmdphd-bsky-social"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117035906723676677","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}