Recent advances in the application of probiotic yeasts, particularly Saccharomyces, as an adjuvant therapy in the management of cancer with focus on colorectal cancer

Today, the increasing rate of cancer-related mortality, has rendered cancer a major global challenge, and the second leading cause of death worldwide. Conventional approaches in the treatment of cancer mainly include chemotherapy, surgery, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy. However, these approaches still come with certain disadvantages, including drug resistance, and different side effects such as gastrointestinal (GI) irritation (e.g., diarrhea, mucositis). This has encouraged scientists to look for alternative therapeutic methods and adjuvant therapies for a more proper treatment of malignancies. Application of probiotics as an adjuvant therapy in the clinical management of cancer appears to be a promising strategy, with several notable advantages, e.g., increased safety, higher tolerance, and negligible GI side effects. Both in vivo and in vitro analyses have indicated the active role of yeast probiotics in mitigating the rate of cancer cell proliferation, and the induction of apoptosis through regulating the expression of cancer-related genes and cellular pathways. Strain-specific anti-cancer activities of yeast probiotics strongly suggest that their administration along with the current cancer therapies may be an efficient method to reduce the side effects of these approaches. The main purpose of this article is to evaluate the efficacy of yeast probiotics in alleviating the adverse effects associated with cancer therapies.