The Medical Advisor

Yes — the gut bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila is increasingly recognized as a biomarker predicting response to cancer immunotherapy. This is one of the most important discoveries in microbiome-oncology in the past decade. Below is a clear scientific overview of what the research shows. Patients with Akkermansia respond better to checkpoint inhibitors Multiple studies have shown that cancer patients whose gut microbiome contains Akkermansia respond better to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) such as anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 therapies. In a clinical cohort of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients: Higher levels of Akkermansia were associated with disease stabilization or partial response Patients without the bacterium were more likely to have disease progression during immunotherapy ( PubMed ). Another analysis found that  intestinal Akkermansia presence predicted clinical response to PD-1 blockade  in advanced lung cancer patients ( Biocodex Microbiota Institute )....