ArticleOncoTargets and therapy2020
ATAS Acupuncture Reduces Chemotherapy Induced Fatigue in Breast Cancer Through Regulating ADROA1 Expression: A Randomized Sham-Controlled Pilot Trial.
Article in OncoTargets and therapy, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Acupuncture as treatment of cancer-therapy induced fatigue: a critical systematic review with a focus on the methodological assessment of blinding.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2026Pooled it
- Acupuncture vs. sham acupuncture for cancer-related fatigue in patients with breast cancer: a double-center, randomized, single-blind pilot study.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2026Trial
- Efficacy of Acupuncture for Insomnia After Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer: A Randomized Sham-Controlled Trial.Nature and science of sleep · 2026Trial
- Effect of acupuncture on fatigue in cancer survivors with chronic pain: a secondary analysis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Trial
- Acupuncture and moxibustion in integrative oncology and new progress in China.Integrative medicine research · 2025Review
- ATAS-EMIT Activates the 5-HT/AC/cAMP Pathway to Ameliorate Insomnia in PCPA Insomniac Rats.Nature and science of sleep · 2025Article
- Acupuncture for Managing Cancer-Related Fatigue in Breast Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Cancers · 2022Review
- Protection against Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity through Modulating iNOS/ARG 2 Balance by Electroacupuncture at PC6.Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of ATAS acupuncture (Acupoints-Time-Space Acupuncture) as a non-pharmacological intervention to prevent or relieve chemotherapy-induced fatigue in breast cancer patients undergoing taxane chemotherapy.
methodsA pilot study in Kunming center with the aim of evaluating 40 patients randomized to 3 groups: ATAS, sham and non-acupuncture with an unequal randomization of 2:1:1. Participants with stage I-III breast cancer were scheduled to receive adjuvant EC4P4 chemotherapy. Participants in the ATAS and sham acupuncture arms received 20 sessions of acupuncture over 20 weeks, non-acupuncture arm received usual care. Evaluation scales, including VAS-F, MFI-20, HDAS, ISI, and blood samples were collected at four timepoints (T1-T4). mRNA sequencing was performed to detect the mechanism of acupuncture.
resultsA total of 581 sessions of acupuncture were performed on patients in the acupuncture group. There was no difference between the three groups in terms of clinical characteristics. Patients randomized to ATAS acupuncture had improved symptoms including fatigue, anxiety and insomnia during the whole process of chemotherapy compared with the other two groups. The VAS-F score of ATAS acupuncture group was decreased compared with non-acupuncture group (P=0.004). The score of MFI-20 in ATAS acupuncture group was kept at low level, while the other two groups' scores kept climbing during chemotherapy (P=0.016; P=0.028, respectively). The mechanism of ATAS acupuncture which reduced fatigue and depression may be related to ADROA1, by regulating cGMP/PKG pathway.
conclusionThis pilot study has demonstrated that ATAS acupuncture can significantly reduce fatigue induced by chemotherapy.
trial registrationChinese Clinical Trials Registry, ChiCTR-IPR-17,013,652, registered Dec 3, 2017. http://www.chictr.org.cn/. PROTOCOL VERSION: Version 3.2 dated from 2018/04/20.
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