Microbiome and peptide alterations in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: current insights and future directions.

Abstract

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common type of pediatric leukemia, yet the mechanisms of leukemogenesis remain incompletely comprehended. Since the concept of brain-gut-microbiome has been established, microbiota dysbiosis has been considered to potentially impact on development of this cancer. This review focuses on microbiome and peptide alterations. In ALL pediatric patients during the time of diagnosis significant differences in comparison to healthy children were noted. While treatment and prophylaxis used in this group of patients is known to have an impact on gut microbiome, some changes in bacteria abundances could serve as predictors for infectious complications (e.g. Bifidobacterium longum), however it is not a standard practice. Probiotic supplementation with Bifidobacterium breve or Lactobacillus rhamnosus could reduce adverse symptoms of chemotherapy, but the legitimacy of their use in immunocompromised patients is controversial. Introducing new strategies, such as fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) could lead to improvement in patients' outcomes in ALL treatment. The interaction between metabolic hormones, peptides and interleukins seems to be crucial for cancer cell metabolism and proliferation as well as immune regulation, inflammation and treatment response. Moreover, gut microbiota does not fully recover in the first year after treatment and even asymptomatic adult survivors of childhood ALL were found to have significantly altered abundances of bacteria species.