# A Multi-Omics Study of the Effect and Mechanisms of Acupuncture on Psychoneurological Symptoms Among Breast Cancer Survivors

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO · 2023 · $186,883

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
A large proportion of breast cancer survivors—24% to 68% of them—report co-occurring psychoneurological
(PN) symptoms or the PN symptom cluster (defined as a cluster of pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance) during
and after cancer treatment. Acupuncture is a safe and holistic treatment known to relieve cancer-related
symptoms, including PN symptoms. However, its role and mechanism in treating multiple PN symptoms
simultaneously remains unclear. Metabolomics can reveal systematic metabolic changes and time-effect
relationships between an intervention and the targeted disease. Metabolomic studies suggest that the
tryptophan (Trp)–kynurenine (Kyn) metabolic pathway plays a critical role in PN symptoms among cancer
survivors. It remains unknown whether the effect of acupuncture on PN symptoms is associated with regulation
of the inflammation-induced activation of the Trp-Kyn pathway or is associated with other novel pathways. This
R21’s innovative approach to these outstanding questions involves performing an integrated analysis of breast
cancer survivors’ serum and fecal metabolome and microbiome before and after an acupuncture intervention.
The goal is to understand the effect and mechanism of acupuncture in treating the PN symptom cluster among
breast cancer survivors. The specific aims are: (1) to evaluate whether a 5-week acupuncture intervention
decreases the severity of the PN symptom cluster (a composite score of pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance),
as well as each of the 3 individual PN symptoms, among breast cancer survivors; (2) to determine whether the
hypothesized decrease in the severity of the PN symptom cluster and each PN symptom following acupuncture
is associated with changes in targeted Trp-Kyn pathway metabolites; and (3) to explore associations between
changes in untargeted biomarkers in the serum and fecal metabolome and gut microbiome and the changes in
the PN symptom cluster and each PN symptom. We hypothesize that acupuncture will reduce the PN symptom
cluster through the Trp-Kyn metabolomic pathway and will also influence and produce other beneficial changes
in the metabolome and microbiome. This integration of large-scale metabolomics and microbiome markers with
PN symptom phenotypes will advance a mechanistic understanding of acupuncture and identify novel
biomarkers that could be used in future studies of personalized acupuncture approaches to symptom
management and relief among breast cancer survivors.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10649197
- **Project number:** 1R21CA277153-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Hongjin Li
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $186,883
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-04-11 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10649197

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10649197, A Multi-Omics Study of the Effect and Mechanisms of Acupuncture on Psychoneurological Symptoms Among Breast Cancer Survivors (1R21CA277153-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10649197. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*