Trial reportInternational journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics2020
Microbial Diversity and Composition Is Associated with Patient-Reported Toxicity during Chemoradiation Therapy for Cervical Cancer.
Trial report in International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 5 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
52 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 85 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations of the gut, cervical, and vaginal microbiota with cervical cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC women's health · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring the links among inflammation and gut microbiome with psychoneurological symptoms and gastrointestinal toxicities in gynecologic cancers: a systematic review.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022Pooled it
- The impact of pelvic radiotherapy on the gut microbiome and its role in radiation-induced diarrhoea: a systematic review.Radiation oncology (London, England) · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Gut Microbiome and Its Associations With Acute and Chronic Gastrointestinal Toxicities in Cancer Patients With Pelvic Radiation Therapy: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in oncology · 2021Pooled it
- A phase II clinical trial ofFrontiers in nutrition · 2025Trial
- The Cervical Microbiome in Hispanic Populations in Texas and Puerto Rico with and without Cervical Dysplasia.Research square · 2026Article
- Relationship Between Intestinal Flora and Acute Radiation Enteritis in Patients With Advanced Cervical Cancer Undergoing Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy.Advances in radiation oncology · 2026Article
- Gut Microbiota and Nutritional Profiles of Colon Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy: A Longitudinal Pilot Study.Nutrients · 2026Article
- From Host-Microbiome Symbiosis to Clinical Translation: A Gut Microbiome Perspective on Radiation Enteritis.International journal of biological sciences · 2026Review
- Microbiome-host interactions in locally advanced cervical cancer: the impact on chemoradiotherapy treatment outcomes and toxicity.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- The potential of microbiome modulators to improve quality of life in cancer survivors through gut microbiome-immune interactions.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2026Review
- Gut microbiome and nutritional strategies in gastrointestinal cancers: Clinical implications and therapeutic perspectives.World journal of clinical oncology · 2025Review
- Dietary habits in relation to outcome and therapy-related toxicity in patients with glioblastoma - a retrospective cohort study.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2025Article
- Fibre, microbes and radiotherapy: unravelling the gut's impact on radiotherapy in cancer.ESMO gastrointestinal oncology · 2025Review
- The microbiota in radiotherapy-induced cancer immunosurveillance.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2025Review
- Role of Human Microbiome in Development and Management of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Cancers · 2025Review
- Electron-beam FLASH whole brain irradiation induced a unique changes of intestinal flora.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- The Role of the Microbiome in Cancer Therapies: Current Evidence and Future Directions.Hematology/oncology clinics of North America · 2025Review
- [Advances in Multi-omics Analysis of Cervical Cancer].Sichuan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Sichuan University. Medical science edition · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
19 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposePatients receiving pelvic radiation for cervical cancer experience high rates of acute gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity. The association of changes in the gut microbiome with bowel toxicity from radiation is not well characterized. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Thirty-five patients undergoing definitive chemoradiation therapy (CRT) underwent longitudinal sampling (baseline and weeks 1, 3, and 5) of the gut microbiome and prospective assessment of patient-reported GI toxicity. DNA was isolated from stool obtained at rectal examination and analyzed with 16S rRNA sequencing. GI toxicity was assessed with the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite instrument to evaluate frequency, urgency, and discomfort associated with bowel function. Shannon diversity index was used to characterize alpha (within sample) diversity. Weighted UniFrac principle coordinates analysis was used to compare beta (between sample) diversity between samples using permutational multivariate analysis of variance. Linear discriminant analysis effect size highlighted microbial features that best distinguish categorized patient samples.
resultsGut microbiome diversity continuously decreased over the course of CRT, with the largest decrease at week 5. Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite bowel function scores also declined over the course of treatment, reflecting increased symptom burden. At all individual time points, higher diversity of the gut microbiome was linearly correlated with better patient-reported GI function, but baseline diversity was not predictive of eventual outcome. Patients with high toxicity demonstrated different compositional changes during CRT in addition to compositional differences in Clostridia species.
conclusionsOver time, increased radiation toxicity is associated with decreased gut microbiome diversity. Baseline diversity is not predictive of end-of-treatment bowel toxicity, but composition may identify patients at risk for developing high toxicity.
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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.