ArticleBrain, behavior, and immunity2026
Gut microbiota and metabolite disruption during breast cancer chemotherapy is associated with peripheral neuropathy sensory symptoms and pain.
Article in Brain, behavior, and immunity, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis and CIPN: State-of-the-Art Evidence and a Microbiota-Ozone Therapeutic Framework.Cancers · 2026Review
- Bortezomib-induced gastrointestinal dysfunction, peripheral neuropathy and neuroimmune signalling are influenced by the gut microbiota in mice.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a common and serious adverse effect of chemotherapeutic agents such as taxanes, platinum compounds, and vinca alkaloids. Efforts to prevent and treat CIPN are impeded by an incomplete understanding of its pathogenesis. Recently, the gut microbiota has been causally linked to CIPN in rodent models. However, human studies exploring this connection are limited. Here, in a cohort of 70 patients with early-stage breast cancer, relationships between disruptions in the gut microbiota during chemotherapy and both participant CIPN symptoms and general pain symptoms were investigated. Study participants provided fecal samples (for 16S rRNA sequencing and targeted metabolomics), blood samples, and sensory symptom information during the three days prior to their first and their final chemotherapy (including a taxane drug) infusions. Sensory neuropathy symptoms increased during treatment, as did circulating levels of neurofilament light chain (NFL), a putative biomarker of CIPN. Decreases in microbiota alpha diversity during chemotherapy were associated with worse neuropathy symptoms during treatment, along with worsening of general pain, after controlling for pre-treatment baseline symptoms. Larger shifts in beta diversity from baseline to last infusion also coincided with more severe neuropathy symptoms. Bacterial producers of short-chain fatty acids were decreased in participants with neuropathy symptoms at the final chemotherapy infusion. Furthermore, decreases in fecal levels of short-chain fatty acids during treatment were related to worse neuropathy symptoms, suggesting a potential mechanism by which gut microbiota alterations could influence CIPN. Collectively, these findings corroborate preclinical work linking the gut microbiota to CIPN and provide evidence of potential microbiota involvement in general pain symptoms as well. Larger confirmatory studies in the future could support microbiota-targeted interventions for CIPN, such as fecal microbiota transplants or dietary interventions.
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.