ReviewScience (New York, N.Y.)2021
The microbiome and human cancer.
Review in Science (New York, N.Y.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. It is linked to trial NCT03752333 (A Phase II Trial of Pembrolizumab in Cancer of Unknown Primary), which is not on this map. Cited by 799 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A Phase II Trial of Pembrolizumab in Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUPem)
Who cites it
799 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 1,206 citations in OpenAlex.
- The oral bacterial microbiota change in oral squamous cell carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC oral health · 2026Pooled it
- The composition alteration of gut microbiota in lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Pooled it
- Global research trends inFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Pooled it
- Functional convergence amid taxonomic variability in gut microbiome-immune checkpoint inhibitor research: a bibliometric and mechanistic synthesis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- Worldwide research trends on theFrontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- Characterization of dysbiosis patterns in gut microbiota of digestive system cancers: an umbrella review.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Pooled it
- Proton versus photon radiotherapy for patients with oropharyngeal cancer in the USA: a multicentre, randomised, open-label, non-inferiority phase 3 trial.Lancet (London, England) · 2026Trial
- Neoadjuvant tislelizumab with afatinib for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (neoCHANCE-1): a phase 2 clinical trial.Nature communications · 2025Trial
- Water-responsive injectable hydrogel achieving rapid in situ gelation and long-term colonic mucoadhesion for efficient fecal microbiota transplantation.Bioactive materials · 2027Article
- Leveraging the bacteria for enhanced cancer immunotherapy: from a perspective of synthetic biology.Cancer biology & therapy · 2026Review
- Monocytes acquire a tumor-associated IL1B program upon encountering patient-derived colon cancer organoids.Oncoimmunology · 2026Article
- Gut microbiota translocation and dissemination in health: can it be beneficial and purposeful?Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Decoding the microbiome: artificial intelligence-targeted gut microenvironment breakthroughs in personalized cancer therapy.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Microbiota and head and neck cancers: Mechanistic insights and translational potential.Virulence · 2026Review
- Early-onset colorectal cancer: epidemiology, risk factors, and implications for clinical practice.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2026Review
- Targeting the Microbiota-Metabolism-Immunity Axis: Active Components of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- The Microbiome in Glioblastoma: Mechanisms, Tumor-Immune Interactions, and Translational Perspectives.MicrobiologyOpen · 2026Review
- Integrative microbiome and functional profiling identifymSystems · 2026Article
- Biomarker-Driven Strategies for Stromal Reprogramming in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.Cells · 2026Review
- Gut microbiota alterations in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer undergoing chemoradiotherapy.Molecular oncology · 2026Article
739 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Microbial roles in cancer formation, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment have been disputed for centuries. Recent studies have provocatively claimed that bacteria, viruses, and/or fungi are pervasive among cancers, key actors in cancer immunotherapy, and engineerable to treat metastases. Despite these findings, the number of microbes known to directly cause carcinogenesis remains small. Critically evaluating and building frameworks for such evidence in light of modern cancer biology is an important task. In this Review, we delineate between causal and complicit roles of microbes in cancer and trace common themes of their influence through the host's immune system, herein defined as the immuno-oncology-microbiome axis. We further review evidence for intratumoral microbes and approaches that manipulate the host's gut or tumor microbiome while projecting the next phase of experimental discovery.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.