Abstract
<jats:p>Objective To evaluate the result of microbial modulation therapies on HNC patients by inspecting their effects over various treatment plans, the response of their immune system, and overall survival. Results A comparative analysis was held based on various studies analyzing microbial interventions in HNC patients. A comprehensive search identified 180 records from databases and 10 records from registries, leading to a total of 190 records. After removing 50 duplicates, 140 records remained for screening. Additionally, 5 records were excluded due to inaccessibility or irrelevant source type, leaving 135 records for screening. During the screening phase, 80 records were removed based on title and hypothetical relevance, and 55 entire text reports were sought for reclamation. However, 5 reports could not be recovered, resulting in 50 full-text reports appraised for eligibility. Among these, 38 reports were excluded for various reasons, including 12 studies that were not relevant to microbial modulation therapy, 8 that did not focus on head and neck cancer, 10 that lacked microbiome or metabolome data, and 8 that were excluded for other reasons, such as being review articles or case reports. Modulating the microbiota shows how well patients respond to radiotherapy, aiding in decreasing the severity of mucositis and the effects of immune responses. For head and neck cancer patients who are going through chemoradiotherapy, probiotics play an important role in relieving severe oral mucositis. Researchers also found that disturbances in oral bacteria were somehow connected to tumor growth, defective treatment response, and inflammation-driven cancer progression. Studies proposed that aiming microbiota configuration may improve radiotherapy and immunotherapy effectiveness while decreasing adverse effects.</jats:p>