Chemotherapy-driven dysbiosis in the intestinal microbiomeOriginal paper
Karen Pendergrass is a microbiome researcher specializing in microbiome-targeted interventions (MBTIs). She systematically analyzes scientific literature to identify microbial patterns, develop hypotheses, and validate interventions. As the founder of the Microbiome Signatures Database, she bridges microbiome research with clinical practice. In 2012, based on her own investigative research, she became the first documented case of FMT for Celiac Disease, four years before the first published case study.
Read MoreWhat was studied?
Researchers examined how myeloablative chemotherapy, given before haematopoietic stem cell transplantation, reshapes the gut microbiome. They focused on links to gastrointestinal mucositis, a common chemotherapy side effect.
How was it studied?
The team collected faecal samples from 28 non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients before and after the same chemotherapy conditioning regimen, with no concurrent antibiotics. They sequenced 16S rRNA genes and inferred microbial functional pathways from the resulting profiles.
What did they find?
After chemotherapy, Firmicutes (P = 0.0002) and Actinobacteria (P = 0.002) abundances fell significantly, while Proteobacteria rose significantly (P = 0.0002). Functional capacity for nucleotide metabolism, energy metabolism, and cofactor/vitamin metabolism decreased, while glycan metabolism, signal transduction, and xenobiotics biodegradation capacity increased.
Why it matters
The compositional and functional shifts suggest the gut microbiome contributes to chemotherapy-induced GI mucositis. The authors propose these functional pathways as candidate targets for microbiome-directed interventions in cancer patients.