Probiotics for the Treatment of Docetaxel-Related Weight Gain of Breast Cancer Patients—A Single-Center, Randomized, Double-Blind, and Placebo-Controlled Trial

Background: Docetaxel is an important chemotherapy-agent for breast cancer treatment. One of its side-effects is weight gain, which increases the all-cause mortality rate. Considering gut microbiota is one important factor for weight regulation, we hypothesized that probiotics could be potentially used to reduce the docetaxel-related weight gain in breast cancer patients. Methods: From 10/8/2018 to 10/17/2019, 100 breast cancer (Stage I-III) patients underwent four cycles of docetaxel-based chemotherapy were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive probiotics (Bifidobacterium longum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Enterococcus faecalis) or placebo (supplementary material of the probiotics capsule) treatment for 84 days with three capsules per time, twice/day. The primary outcome: the changes in body weight and body-fat percentage of the patients were measured by a designated physician using a fat analyzer, and the secondary outcomes: the fasting insulin, plasma glucose, and lipids were directly obtained from the Hospital Information System (HIS); The metabolites were measured using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS); The fecal microbiome was analyzed using bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequence. All indicators were measured 1 day before the first cycle of docetaxel-based chemotherapy and 21 days after the last cycle of docetaxel-based chemotherapy. Results: Compared with the placebo group, the probiotic group showed significantly smaller changes in body weight (Mean [SD] 0.77 [2.58] vs. 2.70 [3.08], P = 0.03), body-fat percentage (Mean [SD] 0.04 [1.14] vs. 3.86 [11.09], P = 0.02), and low density lipoprotein (LDL) (Mean [SD]−0.05[0.68] vs. 0.39 [0.58], P = 0.002). Moreover, five of the 340 detected plasma metabolites showed significant differences between the two groups. The change of biliverdin dihydrochloride (B = −0.724, P = 0.02) was inverse correlated with weight gain. One strain of the phylum and three strains of the genus were detected to be significantly different between the two groups. Also, the changes of Bacteroides (B = −0.917, P < 0.001) and Anaerostipes (B = −0.894, P < 0.001) were inverse correlated with the change of LDL. Conclusions: Probiotics supplement during docetaxel-based chemotherapy for breast cancer treatment may help to reduce the increase in body weight, body-fat percentage, plasma LDL, and minimize the metabolic changes and gut dysbacteriosis. Clinical Trial Registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=24294, ChiCTR-INQ-17014181.