Diet-drive Gut Microbiome and Outcome in Patients With Early-stage Triple-negative Breast Cancer Undergoing Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy.

The CAPTIVATE study is designed to explore a really interesting and important question: how the tiny living organisms in our gut, collectively known as the gut microbiome, might affect how women with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer respond to their treatment. Triple-negative breast cancer is a particular type of breast cancer that doesn't have certain receptors that other breast cancers do. This means it's treated differently, often with chemotherapy, which can now be combined with newer drugs called immunotherapy.

Doctors have noticed that adding immunotherapy to chemotherapy can significantly improve outcomes for some patients. At the same time, research has suggested that the bacteria in our gut could play a part in how effective these immunotherapy drugs are, and even how people cope with their side effects. This study aims to bring these two ideas together, looking at the complex relationship between your gut bacteria, your specific cancer biology, and how well you respond to chemotherapy with or without immunotherapy. It will also look at whether the gut microbiome might affect your thinking abilities (cognitive function) and your long-term health.

One key area the study will focus on is understanding if changes in the gut bacteria are linked to the risk of the cancer returning, especially in patients who still have some cancer cells after their initial chemotherapy. By studying how your gut microbiome and your cancer change over time, and whether what you eat affects your gut bacteria, the scientists hope to find new ways to predict treatment success or even improve treatments in the future. This could lead to more personalised care, where treatments are chosen or adjusted based on an individual's gut microbiome.