REVIEW: Molecular Ensembles of Microbiotic Metabolites in Carcinogenesis

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Olga P. Shatova^1,2,a*, Anastasiya A. Zabolotneva¹, and Aleksandr V. Shestopalov^1,3

¹Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, 117997 Moscow, Russia

²Peoples’s Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), 117198 Moscow, Russia

³Rogachev National Medical Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 117997 Moscow, Russia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received January 25, 2023; Revised March 9, 2023; Accepted March 9, 2023

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The mechanisms of carcinogenesis are extremely complex and involve multiple components that contribute to the malignant cell transformation, tumor growth, and metastasis. In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in the role of symbiotic human microbiota in the regulation of metabolism and functioning of host immune system. The symbiosis between a macroorganism and its microbiota has given rise to the concept of a holoorganism. Interactions between the components of a holoorganism have formed in the process of coevolution, resulting in the acquisition by microbiotic metabolites of a special role of signaling molecules and main regulators of molecular interactions in the holoorganism. As elements of signaling pathways in the host organism, bacterial metabolites have become essential participants in various physiological and pathological processes, including tumor growth. At the same time, signaling metabolites often exhibit multiple effects and impact both the functions of the host cells and metabolic activity and composition of the microbiome. This review discusses the role of microbiotic metabolites in the induction and prevention of malignant transformation of cells in the host organism and their impact on the efficacy of anticancer therapy, with special emphasis on the involvement of some components of the microbial metabolite molecular ensemble in the initiation and progression of tumor growth.

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KEY WORDS: microbiota, carcinogenesis, signaling metabolites, cancer

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297923070027

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