Klin Onkol 2018; 31(6): 465-467. DOI: 10.14735/amko2018465.
Gastrointestinal (GI) flora contains an immense number of bacteria (1014), what is considered ten times more than eukaryotic cells in the entire body,
and represents a complex, dynamic and diverse collection of approximately 1 000–1 500 different microbial species [1]. The GI bacteria play an essential
role in nutrition and food digestion and in the modulation of antitumor immunity [2,3]. Interes tingly, some of the GI bacteria, such as Bifidobacterium spp,
Listeria monocytogenes, Clostridium spp, Salmonella ssp, Shigella flexeneri, Vibrio cholerae, and Escherichia coli have shown preferential accumulation in tumors compared to normal organs [4]. The use of probio tics, living bacteria or other microorganisms, has been recognized for their health-promoting effects for more than a century due to their role in preventing and treating various diseases including some types of cancers [5]. The maintenance of epithelial integri -
ty, alleviation of lactose intolerance, enhancement of production of vitamins, stimulation of cell-mediated immunity, IgA production, and detoxification of
carcinogens are among the properties of the probiotics; their beneficial effects are often bacterial strain-specific [6,7].
