In Western countries, breast cancer tends to occur in older postmenopausal women. However, in Asian countries, the proportion of younger premenopausal breast cancer patients is increasing. Increasing evidence suggests that the gut microbiota plays a critical role in breast cancer. However, studies on the gut microbiota in the context of breast cancer have mainly focused on postmenopausal breast cancer. Little is known about the gut microbiota in the context of premenopausal breast cancer. This study aimed to comprehensively explore the gut microbial profiles, diagnostic value, and functional pathways in premenopausal breast cancer patients. Here, we analyzed 267 breast cancer patients with different menopausal statuses and age-matched female controls. The α-diversity was significantly reduced in premenopausal breast cancer patients, and the β-diversity differed significantly between breast cancer patients and controls. By performing multiple analyses and classification, 14 microbial markers were identified in the different menopausal statuses of breast cancer. Bacteroides fragilis was specifically found in young women of premenopausal statuses and Klebsiella pneumoniae in older women of postmenopausal statuses. In addition, menopausal-specific microbial markers could exhibit excellent discriminatory ability in distinguishing breast cancer patients from controls. Finally, the functional pathways differed between breast cancer patients and controls. Our findings provide the first evidence that the gut microbiota in premenopausal breast cancer patients differs from that in postmenopausal breast cancer patients and shed light on menopausal-specific microbial markers for diagnosis and investigation, ultimately providing a noninvasive approach for breast cancer detection and a novel strategy for preventing premenopausal breast cancer.

Adding tiotropium to inhaled LABA/CS can yield clinical benefits in lung function and improved quality of life in COPD patients, as both drugs act through separate yet complementary pathways to maintain airway calibre.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a special subtype of breast cancer in which several common diagnostic biomarkers are lost. Due to the loss of expression of receptors, treatment options for TNBC are limited. Therefore, finding safe and effective treatments for patients with TNBC is a major objective for clinicians. Previous studies suggested that cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells may be beneficial for patients with a variety of tumor types. However, CIK therapy is not effective for all patients. In this study, we found that focal adhesion kinase (FAK), a non-receptor protein tyrosine kinase that regulates several cellular functions in different cells, has the potential to regulate tumor cells sensitized to CIK cells. Knockdown of FAK expression in TNBC cells or the treatment of TNBC cells with a FAK inhibitor followed by coculture with CIK cells increases death of TNBC cells, suggesting that FAK plays important roles in sensitizing tumor cells to CIK cells. This phenomenon could be regulated by a FAK-programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1)-related mechanism. Overall, our findings provide new insights into the cytotoxic effect of CIK cell therapy in TNBC treatment, and show that CIK cell therapy combined with FAK inhibitors may be a novel therapeutic strategy for patients with TNBC.