GI side effects of chemotherapy reduced in mice by targeting gut microbes
Saturday, September 12, 2015 - 13:20
in Health & Medicine
The blame for some of chemotherapy's awful side effects may lie with our gut microbes, early evidence suggests. As chemotherapy drugs are eliminated from the body, bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract can latch onto them and transform them into toxic species that cause severe diarrhea. Now researchers present ways to shut down the ability of GI microbes to convert chemotherapy drugs in mice as a first step to helping cancer patients.