Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38429524›Full record

SynthesisNature medicine2024

A gut microbial signature for combination immune checkpoint blockade across cancer types.

Ashray Gunjur, Yan Shao, Timothy Rozday, Oliver Klein, Andre Mu, Bastiaan W Haak, Ben Markman, Damien Kee, Matteo S Carlino, Craig Underhill and 8 more

Open access · hybridAbstract readMeta-Analysis
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Nature medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 97 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
97citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
24.8field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

97 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 106 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
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  5. Article
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  8. Review
  9. Phase I Evaluation of Patients with Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma Treated with Radiation, Nivolumab, and IDO1 Enzyme Inhibitor BMS-986205.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2026
    Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. A Microbial Lipid-ATP Synthase Axis Fuels NK Cell Antitumor Activity.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026
    Article
  15. Review
  16. Review
  17. Review
  18. Clinical potential of the gut microbiome in oncology: a scoping review of treatment response, toxicity and biomarker development.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Review

37 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

18 authors at 8 institutions in 3 countries.

Ashray GunjurHost-Microbiota Interactions Laboratory, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK. ag35@sanger.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0001-9713-1872
Yan ShaoHost-Microbiota Interactions Laboratory, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-8662-0504
Timothy RozdayHost-Microbiota Interactions Laboratory, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.
Oliver KleinOlivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, La Trobe University School of Cancer Medicine, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Andre MuHost-Microbiota Interactions Laboratory, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.
Bastiaan W HaakHost-Microbiota Interactions Laboratory, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.
Ben MarkmanDepartment of Medical Oncology, Monash Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-0080-2842
Damien KeeDepartment of Medical Oncology, Austin Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Matteo S CarlinoDepartment of Medical Oncology, Blacktown and Westmead Hospitals, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Craig UnderhillBorder Medical Oncology and Haematology Research Unit, Albury-Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre, Albury-Wodonga, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-9335-2678
Sophia FrentzasDepartment of Medical Oncology, Monash Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Michael MichaelDepartment of Medical Oncology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Bo GaoDepartment of Medical Oncology, Blacktown and Westmead Hospitals, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Jodie PalmerOlivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, La Trobe University School of Cancer Medicine, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Jonathan CebonOlivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, La Trobe University School of Cancer Medicine, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Andreas BehrenOlivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, La Trobe University School of Cancer Medicine, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-5329-280X
David J AdamsExperimental Cancer Genetics, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-9490-0306
Trevor D LawleyHost-Microbiota Interactions Laboratory, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK. tl2@sanger.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0002-4805-621X
Wellcome Sanger Institute · GBLa Trobe University · AUMonash Health · AUWestmead Hospital · AUAlbury Wodonga Health · AUEuropean Bioinformatics Institute · GBThe University of Melbourne · AUWalter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research · AU

Funding

Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) targeting programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and cytotoxic T lymphocyte protein 4 (CTLA-4) can induce remarkable, yet unpredictable, responses across a variety of cancers. Studies suggest that there is a relationship between a cancer patient's gut microbiota composition and clinical response to ICB; however, defining microbiome-based biomarkers that generalize across cohorts has been challenging. This may relate to previous efforts quantifying microbiota to species (or higher taxonomic rank) abundances, whereas microbial functions are often strain specific. Here, we performed deep shotgun metagenomic sequencing of baseline fecal samples from a unique, richly annotated phase 2 trial cohort of patients with diverse rare cancers treated with combination ICB (n = 106 discovery cohort). We demonstrate that strain-resolved microbial abundances improve machine learning predictions of ICB response and 12-month progression-free survival relative to models built using species-rank quantifications or comprehensive pretreatment clinical factors. Through a meta-analysis of gut metagenomes from a further six comparable studies (n = 364 validation cohort), we found cross-cancer (and cross-country) validity of strain-response signatures, but only when the training and test cohorts used concordant ICB regimens (anti-PD-1 monotherapy or combination anti-PD-1 plus anti-CTLA-4). This suggests that future development of gut microbiome diagnostics or therapeutics should be tailored according to ICB treatment regimen rather than according to cancer type.

Indexed as

Gastrointestinal MicrobiomeNeoplasmsHumansImmune Checkpoint InhibitorsImmune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Identifiers

PMID38429524
PMCPMC10957475
OpenAlexW4392356761

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.