A new study has found that bacteria present in the human gut can help determine the likelihood of skin cancer returning after treatment.
New York University Langone Health said in a statement released on Friday that previous studies on melanoma showed that the disease returns in 25 to 40 percent of patients after surgery and immunotherapy.
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that is usually associated with excessive exposure to sunlight. It is treated through surgery or immunotherapy, which helps the immune system eliminate cancer cells.
The new research was led by researchers from New York University Langone Health and its Perlmutter Cancer Center and was published in the scientific journal Cell.
In the study, stool samples of 674 melanoma patients involved in a global clinical trial were analyzed.
Researchers discovered that variations in the levels of specific gut bacteria can predict cancer recurrence with up to 94 percent accuracy.
