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Another Chemobrain Therapy?
Could probiotics help myeloma patients manage their chemotherapy-induced cognitive dysfunction? Could probiotics be another chemobrain therapy?
I underwent standard-of-care for the newly diagnosed myeloma patient from ’94-’97. I began noticeing problems with my thinking/remembering/processing shortly after I finished my conventional therapies.
At the time (late nineties) oncology denied the existence of chemobrain. And oncology continued to deny the existence of this difficult side effect of chemotherapy up until a few years ago. And oncology offers few if any therapies for chemobrain.
I have written other blog posts on PeopleBeatingCancer listing non-conventional chemobrain therapies such as
- exercise
- nutritional supplementation
- and coping strategies
Interestingly, I came across the article linked below recently. My first thought was that both chemotherapy and radiation damaged my GI to this day. And while both my chemobrain and GI steadily improved over the past 2o or so years, it makes perfect sense to me that, as the article says, the gut and the brain are connected.
What is Chemobrain?
I don’t believe that oncology studies the long-term negative side effects of chemotherapy much if at all. Further, I began taking probiotics for many reasons. If a healthier gut microbiome helps my chemobrain then all the better.
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Chemotherapy-induced gut microbiome disruption, inflammation, and cognitive decline in female patients with breast cancer
“Highlights
- Chemotherapy induces microbiome disruption, inflammation, and cognitive decline.
- The resulting microbiome disruption relates to cognitive decline and inflammation.
- Those cognitively impaired have unique chemotherapy-induced microbiome alterations.
Abstract- Chemotherapy is notorious for causing behavioral side effects (e.g., cognitive decline). Notably, the gut microbiome has recently been reported to communicate with the brain to affect behavior, including cognition. Thus, the aim of this clinical longitudinal observational study was to determine whether chemotherapy-induced disruption of the gut microbial community structure relates to cognitive decline and circulating inflammatory signals.
Fecal samples, blood, and cognitive measures were collected from 77 patients with breast cancer before, during, and after chemotherapy. Chemotherapy altered the gut microbiome community structure and increased circulating TNF-α. Both the chemotherapy-induced changes in microbial relative abundance and decreased microbial diversity were related to elevated circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6.
Participants reported subjective cognitive decline during chemotherapy, which was not related to changes in the gut microbiome or inflammatory markers.
In contrast, a decrease in overall objective cognition was related to a decrease in microbial diversity, independent of circulating cytokines. Stratification of subjects, via a reliable change index based on 4 objective cognitive tests, identified objective cognitive decline in 35% of the subjects.
Based on a differential microbial abundance analysis, those characterized by cognitive decline had unique taxonomic shifts (Faecalibacterium, Bacteroides, Fusicatenibacter, Erysipelotrichaceae UCG-003, and Subdoligranulum) over chemotherapy treatment compared to those without cognitive decline.
Taken together, gut microbiome change was associated with cognitive decline during chemotherapy, independent of chemotherapy-induced inflammation.
These results suggest that microbiome-related strategies may be useful for predicting and preventing behavioral side effects of chemotherapy…
another chemobrain therapy another chemobrain therapy