Acupuncture ameliorates breast cancer-related fatigue by regulating the gut microbiota-gut-brain axis

Zhuan Lv; Ruidong Liu; Kaiqi Su; Yiming Gu; Lu Fang; Yongfu Fan; Jing Gao; Xiaodi Ruan; Xiaodong Feng

doi:10.3389/fendo.2022.921119

Acupuncture ameliorates breast cancer-related fatigue by regulating the gut microbiota-gut-brain axis

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022 Aug 24:13:921119. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.921119. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Zhuan Lv^{1

2}, Ruidong Liu³, Kaiqi Su¹, Yiming Gu², Lu Fang², Yongfu Fan², Jing Gao¹, Xiaodi Ruan², Xiaodong Feng^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Rehabilitation Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, China.
² Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, China.
³ Department of Breast surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, China.

Abstract

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is the most common side effect of chemotherapy for breast cancer (BC). Acupuncture treatment has an anti-fatigue effect and can regulate gut microbiota disturbance in fatigue patients. Related studies have shown that the gut microbiota-gut-brain axis is closely related to the occurrence of CRF. In this study, we first investigated the alterations of acupuncture on fatigue-like behavior, gut microbiota, gut inflammation and neuroinflammation response, gut barriers, HPA axis, and serum metabolomics in CRF mice after BC chemotherapy. Then, the correlation analysis of gut microbiota and other indicators was discussed. Our results showed that acupuncture treatment could exert an anti-fatigue effect and ameliorate the gut barrier, gut inflammation, neuroinflammation, and dysfunction of the HPA axis in CRF mice after chemotherapy for BC. 16S rRNA sequencing showed that acupuncture treatment could enhance the abundance of Candidatus Arthromitus, Lactobacillus, and Clostridia_UCG-014_unclassified and decrease the abundances of Escherichia-Shigella, Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia, and Streptococcus. Serum metabolomics analysis showed that acupuncture treatment could regulate the differential metabolites N-methylnicotinamide, beta-glycerophosphoric acid, geranyl acetoacetate, serotonin and phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, taurine and hypotaurine, and beta-alanine metabolic pathways. Correlation analysis indicated that there are certain correlations between gut microbiota and gut inflammation, neuroinflammation, gut barrier, HPA axis function and serum metabolites. In conclusion, our findings revealed that the anti-fatigue mechanism of acupuncture treatment may be closely related to the gut microbiota-gut-brain axis. This study also provided a new reference for basic and clinical research on CRF after breast cancer chemotherapy.

Keywords: acupuncture treatment; breast cancer; cancer-related fatigue (CRF); chemotherapy; gut microbiota-gut-brain axis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Acupuncture Therapy*
Animals
Brain-Gut Axis
Gastrointestinal Microbiome* / physiology
Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System
Inflammation
Mice
Neoplasms*
Pituitary-Adrenal System
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics

Substances

RNA, Ribosomal, 16S