Gut microbiota diversity and composition in predicting immunotherapy response and immunotherapy-related colitis in melanoma patients: A systematic review
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Gut microbiome (GM) composition and diversity have recently been studied as a biomarker of response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy (ICB) and of ICB-related colitis. AIM: To conduct a systematic review on the role of GM composition and diversity in predicting response and colitis in patients with melanoma treated with ICB. METHODS: ) (https://www.referencecitationanalysis.com). RESULTS: 0.05). Overall, there was limited concordance in the organisms in the GM identified to be associated with response to ICB, and studies evaluating GM diversity showed conflicting results. CONCLUSION: This highlights the need for further prospective studies to confirm whether the GM could be used as a biomarker and potential intervention to modulate ICB response in melanoma patients.
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Increased gut microbiome diversity is closely associated with improved responses to ICIs.
“Numerous studies have shown that increased gut microbiome diversity is closely associated with improved responses to ICIs25,123,137,138.”
From Microbiome meets immunotherapy: unlocking the hidden predictors of immune checkpoint inhibitors (2025) · cites this paper as [138]
The Discussion (page unavailable) reports that two melanoma studies found higher gut microbiota diversity in ICB responders, and notes similar associations in other cancer types. But the other two melanoma studies found no diversity difference between responders and non-responders, so the unqualified claim of a close association overstates the review's mixed findings. (LLM, conf=0.87)
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- Authors
- Oey, O., Liu, Y.-Y., Sunjaya, A. F., Simadibrata, D. M., Khattak, M. A., & Gray, E.
- Affiliations
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- Tarumanagara University (ID)
- University of Indonesia (ID)
- Edith Cowan University (AU)
- Venue
- World Journal of Clinical Oncology
- Publisher
- Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
- Published
- 2022-11-24
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 929-942
- ISSN
- 2218-4333 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9724183
- OpenAlex
- W4309380473
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4
- FWCI
- 0.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- World Journal of Clinical Oncology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Australasian Journal of Paramedicine (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Funders
- Merck Sharp and Dohme
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › T-cell and B-cell Immunology
- Keywords
- gut microbiota, melanoma, immune checkpoint blockade, immunotherapy response prediction, immune-related adverse events, colitis, biomarkers, microbiome diversity, microbiota composition
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