Chemotherapy related characterization of the oral microbial pattern in breast cancer patients

Chemotherapeutical anti-cancer drugs with or without combination of humanized monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of breast cancer patients belong to today's routine strategies of personalized cancer therapy. Severe medication related side effects are unfortunately common accompanying phenomena for these patients just to mention oral discomfort, mucositis or even osteonecrosis of the jaw. In this study, we analyze saliva samples of breast cancer patients who underwent chemotherapy at three time points: before start of the treatment (T1), after four to six cycles of chemotherapy (T2) and at 52 weeks after start of the treatment (T3) for long time effects of the therapy. We aim to characterize changes in the oral, bacterial microbiome based on 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis due to chemotherapeutic treatment, as a potential reason for oral side effects.

用于治疗乳腺癌患者的化疗抗癌药物（联合或不联合人源化单克隆抗体（humanized monoclonal antibodies）），是当前个性化癌症治疗的常规策略之一。遗憾的是，此类患者常出现与药物相关的严重不良反应，诸如口腔不适、黏膜炎甚至颌骨骨坏死均为常见伴随症状。本研究采集接受化疗的乳腺癌患者的唾液样本，分别于三个时间点开展检测：治疗开始前（T1）、化疗4~6个周期后（T2）以及治疗开始后52周（T3），以分析该治疗的长期影响。本研究旨在通过16S rRNA基因扩增子分析（16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis），解析化疗所致口腔细菌微生物组的变化，以此探究口腔不良反应的潜在诱因。