Improving immunotherapy in solid tumors using FMT

A paper in Cell describes faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) as an addition to first-line immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in renal cell carcinoma, cutaneous melanoma and non-small-cell lung cancer. The authors report improved efficacy with an acceptable safety profile and link it to remodelling of the gut microbiome and systemic immunometabolic changes. The available abstract gives neither the number of patients nor the size of the effect, so the work should not be read as evidence of superiority over immunotherapy alone — it is a rationale for further study of microbiome-directed interventions.