Microbiota and the landscape of the prostate tumor microenvironment

Prostate cancer remains one of the most common causes of cancer-related death in men globally. Progression of prostate cancer to lethal metastatic disease is mediated by multiple contributors. The role of prostate microbiota and their metabolites in metastasis, therapeutic resistance to castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), and tumor relapse has yet to be fully investigated. Characterization of microflora can provide new mechanistic insights into the functional significance in the emergence of therapeutic resistance, identification of novel effective targeted therapies, and development of biomarkers during prostate cancer progression. The tumor microenvironment (TME) and its components work concurrently with the prostate microbiota in promoting prostate cancer development and progression to metastasis. In this article, we discuss the growing evidence on the functional contribution of microbiota to the phenotypic landscape of the TME and its effect on prostate cancer therapeutic targeting and recurrent disease.