कैंसर विज्ञान एवं चिकित्सा

Anti-cancer and Biotherapeutic Potentials of Probiotic Bacteria

Abstract

Zubaida Hassan

Current standard cancer drugs and various synthetic agents exhibit high toxic activities against cancer cells, but doubts have been raised as to their long term stability and safety. Generally, these synthetic agents are relatively expensive; this makes them not affordable to many people. Although most probiotic anticancer therapies are in preclinical development phase, due to their low efficacy and poor selectivity, gradual replacement of current cancer drugs and other synthetic agents with appropriate biotherapeutic substances is proposed to overcome the challenges associated with the use of these synthetic agents. These probiotics can have an effect on other aspects of human health and hence make life worth living during and after cancer treatment. At present, most anticancer research regarding probiotic microbes focuses on Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria, but other probiotics are involved. This review describes the properties of probiotic bacteria as potential biotherapeutics to supplement current standard anti-cancer therapies. The reader will gain an overview of different probiotics tested so far with respective bioassays used in probiotic anti-cancer drug discovery. Note, Not all therapies used generated an effective response in all patients and that use of probiotic therapies provides negligible if any, detrimental side effects.