ArticleMicrobiome2018
Breast cancer in postmenopausal women is associated with an altered gut metagenome.
Article in Microbiome, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 192 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
192 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The gut microbiota-obesity axis in the pathogenesis and prognosis of breast cancer.Annals of medicine · 2026Pooled it
- The impact of estrogen status on the gut microbiome: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Pooled it
- Breast cancer and microbiome: a systematic review highlighting challenges for clinical translation.BMC women's health · 2025Pooled it
- Gut microbiota and breast cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis.Breast cancer (Tokyo, Japan) · 2025Pooled it
- Risk factors for breast cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women: a bibliometric study.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Pooled it
- A population-scale analysis of 36 gut microbiome studies reveals universal species signatures for common diseases.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2024Pooled it
- Guideline for designing microbiome studies in neoplastic diseases.GeroScience · 2024Guideline
- Changes in the fecal microbiota of breast cancer patients based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2024Pooled it
- Human gut, breast, and oral microbiome in breast cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Pooled it
- Reproducible and opposing gut microbiome signatures distinguish autoimmune diseases and cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Microbiome · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic Review and Meta-analysis: Changes of Gut Microbiota before and after Menopause.Disease markers · 2022Pooled it
- The Human Microbiome in Relation to Cancer Risk: A Systematic Review of Epidemiologic Studies.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2020Pooled it
- Weight Loss and Omega-3 Supplementation Modulate the Microbiome in Women with Increased Breast Cancer Risk.Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2026Trial
- Gut microbiota diversity is prognostic and associated with benefit from chemo-immunotherapy in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.Molecular oncology · 2025Trial
- Exploring the Connection Between Ultra-Processed Foods and Breast Cancer: From Adiposity to Inflammation and Beyond.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Microbe-associated molecular patterns differentially mediate carcinogenic alterations of the breast tissue in the context of obesity.Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- The landscape of the intestinal microbiome among patients with newly diagnosed invasive breast cancer and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).NPJ breast cancer · 2026Article
- A pro-carcinogenic oral microbe internalized by breast cancer cells promotes mammary tumorigenesis.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Article
- Exploring the Gut Microbiota as a Promising Target for Breast Cancer Treatment.Current molecular medicine · 2026Review
- The human microbiome reshapes the breast cancer immune-metabolic-hormonal microenvironment.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
132 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
19 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIncreasing evidence suggests that gut microbiota play a role in the pathogenesis of breast cancer. The composition and functional capacity of gut microbiota associated with breast cancer have not been studied systematically.
methodsWe performed a comprehensive shotgun metagenomic analysis of 18 premenopausal breast cancer patients, 25 premenopausal healthy controls, 44 postmenopausal breast cancer patients, and 46 postmenopausal healthy controls.
resultsMicrobial diversity was higher in breast cancer patients than in controls. Relative species abundance in gut microbiota did not differ significantly between premenopausal breast cancer patients and premenopausal controls. In contrast, relative abundance of 45 species differed significantly between postmenopausal patients and postmenopausal controls: 38 species were enriched in postmenopausal patients, including Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp_1_1_55, Prevotella amnii, Enterococcus gallinarum, Actinomyces sp. HPA0247, Shewanella putrefaciens, and Erwinia amylovora, and 7 species were less abundant in postmenopausal patients, including Eubacterium eligens and Lactobacillus vaginalis. Acinetobacter radioresistens and Enterococcus gallinarum were positively but weakly associated with expression of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; Shewanella putrefaciens and Erwinia amylovora were positively but weakly associated with estradiol levels. Actinomyces sp. HPA0247 negatively but weakly correlated with CD3
conclusionThe composition and functions of the gut microbial community differ between postmenopausal breast cancer patients and healthy controls. The gut microbiota may regulate or respond to host immunity and metabolic balance. Thus, while cause and effect cannot be determined, there is a reproducible change in the microbiota of treatment-naive patients relative to matched controls.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.