DISCUSSION
diarrhea, gastrointestinal adverse, cancer, nausea and vomiting, nausea and, gastrointestinal adverse reactions, constipation, lung cancer, early‐stage lung cancer
ADVERSE REACTIONS, CANCER, LUNG CANCER, ADVERSE EFFECTS, APPETITE LOSS
Our study demonstrated that compound probiotic supplements can improve the quality of life and relieve platinum‐based doublet chemotherapy‐induced gastrointestinal adverse reactions for lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Previous clinical studies have also indicated that probiotics may ameliorate chemotherapy‐induced adverse effects. Jiang et al. found that a probiotic combination (It is our inaugural endeavor to improve the quality of life for lung cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy through compound probiotic supplements. In this report, after two cycles of compound probiotic supplement/placebo treatment along with platinum‐based doublet chemotherapy, a significant difference in some questionnaire dimensions was shown between the two groups. Most of all, the overall quality of life score in group BP‐1 was significantly better than that in group C, and so was the score of role function. In other words, patients in group BP‐1 maintained a relatively good quality of life during the chemotherapy course, which was aggravated in group C. Moreover, the prevalence of nausea and vomiting, appetite loss, constipation, and diarrhea in group BP‐1 was significantly lower than in group C. The above results imply that the adverse effects caused by chemotherapy may worsen the quality of life. A randomized controlled trial reported a similar situation: the quality of life analysis of KEYNOTE‐024 showed significantly higher scores in the QLQ‐30 questionnaire for nausea and vomiting, constipation, and diarrhea in the chemotherapy group.How do the probiotics work on improving the quality of life in patients receiving chemotherapy?Chemotherapeutic agents can disturb the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota, correlated with adverse effects such as diarrhea, appetite loss, etc.It is a pity that the sample size of this study was limited after 19 patients were excluded from the final statistical analysis. Further exploration of the variation of gut microbiota and SCFA levels are needed to elucidate the potential mechanisms of compound probiotic supplements to ameliorate chemotherapy‐related adverse effects. In addition, many patients with early‐stage lung cancer were included in our study, and our future studies will be focused on patients with advanced lung cancer. Our study observed that compound probiotic supplements could effectively alleviate gastrointestinal adverse events. We still need to explore whether compound probiotic supplements can improve other chemotherapy‐related adverse reactions and improve the quality of life of cancer patients in future studies. Probiotic agents have been reported to provide a survival benefit for lung cancer patients treated with ICIs.In conclusion, oral compound probiotic supplements can improve the quality of life and relieve chemotherapy‐related gastrointestinal adverse events for lung cancer patients receiving platinum‐based chemotherapy.