• Michal Mego, Vladimir Holec, Lubos Drgona, Katarina Hainova, Sona Ciernikova, and Vladimir Zajac.
• Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University and National Cancer Institute, Klenova 1, 833 10 Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Electronic address: misomego@gmail.com.
• Complement Ther Med. 2013 Dec 1;21(6):712-23.

BackgroundProbiotics are live microorganisms, which as drugs or food supplements help to maintain health beneficial microbial balance in the digestive tract of a human or other host. Probiotics by their properties may help strengthen homeostasis and thus reduce side effects associated with cancer treatment. Experimental evidence suggests that probiotics might have beneficial effect on the toxicity of anticancer therapy.MethodsA computer-based literature search was carried out using PubMed (keywords: "probiotic" and "lactic acid bacteria" in association with the search terms "cancer" or "oncology" or "chemotherapy" or "radiation"); data reported at international meetings were included.ResultsProbiotics might have beneficial effects on some aspects of toxicity related to anticancer treatment especially radiation therapy. However, reported trials vary in utilized probiotic strains, dose of probiotics and vast majority of them are small trials with substantial risk of bias. Despite limited data, it seems that probiotic bacteria as live microorganisms could be safely administered even in the setting of neutropenia.ConclusionsCurrent evidence supporting probiotic use as adjunctive therapy to anticancer treatment is limited, especially in cancer patients treated with chemotherapy. Well designed clinical trials are needed to find true role of probiotics in oncology.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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