Role of probiotics in the management of lung cancer and related diseases: An update

Worldwide, lung cancer remains to be the most common cause of cancer-related deaths. A wealth of data has shown that probiotics play essential roles in different types of tumor prevention and treatment. However, data specifically linking probiotics with lung cancer is very limited. This review summarizes the utilization of probiotics directly for the treatment by mentioning in vivo and in vitro case studies, and also indirectly by discussing their impact on various causes responsible for lung cancer growth and thus playing important role in the prevention of cancer. The main findings of the review include that with probiotics treatment better survival rates with an augmented expression of tumor suppression genes were obtained. However, the expression of two oncogenes studied was found to be decreased, whereas increased cytotoxic effects were also observed in lung cancer cells. In addition, protective mechanism of probiotics was supposed to be linked with immunomodulation.