Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Jul 30:12:1624803.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1624803. eCollection 2025.

Gut-lung axis, probiotics, and prebiotics: insights on dysbiosis, mechanism, and prevention of lung cancer

Deepika  1 , Zayed D Alsharari  2 , Md Faruque Ahmad  3 , Jagphool Singh  4 , Mohini Yadav  5 , Anita Kumari  1 , Anil Kumar  4 , Karl R Matthews  6 , Rotimi E Aluko  7 , António Raposo  8 , Najla A Albaridi  9 , Boshra Mozaffar  3 , Ariana Saraiva  10   11 , Saurabh C Saxena  5
Affiliations
Review

Gut-lung axis, probiotics, and prebiotics: insights on dysbiosis, mechanism, and prevention of lung cancer

Deepika et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Background/objectives: Science continues to unravel the intricacies of the human body that affect health and well-being. The human gastrointestinal tract is inhabited by microbiota responsible for various bodily functions and reactions. This review provides an overview of lung-related diseases and the role of the gut-lung axis (GLA) related to lung cancer. Integral to the discussion are the roles that prebiotics and probiotics play in critical aspects of the GLA. The review aims to bridge the conventional knowledge with recent knowledge of therapeutic agents.

Methods: A literature review was performed using the keywords "gut-lung axis," "prebiotics," "probiotics," and "lung cancer" on Google Scholar, PubMed, and JSTOR.

Results: Probiotic bacteria have a positive effect in maintaining beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract, which subsequently shows significant effects in maintaining lung health. Coupled with the efficacy of probiotics is a diet rich in prebiotics required to maintain a healthy gastrointestinal tract microbiota. Probiotics and prebiotics have specific mechanisms of action to prevent lung health-related diseases such as lung cancer. Recent advances have shown the potential of non-toxic and sustainable therapeutic agents for reversal of dysbiosis in GLA.

Conclusion: Research suggests that the gastrointestinal tract microbiota has a crucial role in the onset and prevention of lung cancer. Lung cancer, which is prevalent in almost every country around the globe, is found to be associated with the occurrence of various other co-morbidities. Seeking new methods to maintain lung health and prevent lung diseases, including lung cancer, remains urgent, especially in the post-COVID era.

Keywords: gut-lung axis; lung cancer; microbiota; prebiotics; probiotics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Interactive communications between lung, gut and oral microbiomes: The oral, pulmonary, and intestinal microbiomes can interact directly through mucosal dispersion, respiratory, and digestive functions, and indirectly through inflammatory chemicals, cytokines, and metabolites that circulate in a regular pattern. Intestinal bacteria and their metabolites control the likelihood of native T cells to differentiate and the release of Th17, which controls systemic inflammatory response and immunity.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Impact of dysbiosis in gut-lung axis: Many factors such as air pollution, tobacco smoke, burning coal, and other pollutants constantly expose the lungs to inflammation, which can affect microbial dysbiosis. Alterations in the microbial community of lungs and persistent lung inflammation can accelerate cancer development.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mechanism of cancer prevention by prebiotics.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Chen X, Mo S, Yi B. The spatiotemporal dynamics of lung cancer: 30-year trends of epidemiology across 204 countries and territories. BMC Public Health. (2022) 22:987. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13281-y, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Deshpand R, Chandra M, Rauthan A. Evolving trends in lung cancer: epidemiology, diagnosis, and management. Indian J Cancer. (2022) 59:S90–S105. doi: 10.4103/ijc.IJC_52_21, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Filho AM, Laversanne M, Ferlay J, Colombet M, Piñeros M, Znaor A, et al. The GLOBOCAN 2022 cancer estimates: data sources, methods, and a snapshot of the cancer burden worldwide. Int J Cancer. (2025) 156:1336–46. doi: 10.1002/ijc.35278, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Xia Q, Chen G, Ren Y, Zheng T, Shen C, Li M, et al. Investigating efficacy of “microbiota modulation of the gut-lung Axis” combined with chemotherapy in patients with advanced NSCLC: study protocol for a multicenter, prospective, double blind, placebo controlled, randomized trial. BMC Cancer. (2021) 21:721. doi: 10.1186/s12885-021-08448-6, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ji Y, Zhang Y, Liu S, Li J, Jin Q, Wu J, et al. The epidemiological landscape of lung cancer: current status, temporal trend and future projections based on the latest estimates from GLOBOCAN 2022. J Natl Cancer Center. (2025) 5:278–86. doi: 10.1016/j.jncc.2025.01.003 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources