患有头颈癌（HNC）的患者疲劳与更高的炎症相关。 短链脂肪酸（SCFAs）已被证明具有抗炎和免疫调节作用。 因此，本研究旨在调查接受放射治疗（单独或联合化疗）的HNC患者的SCFAs与疲劳之间的关联。 本研究收集了59名HNC患者在治疗完成之前和完成治疗后一个月的血浆SCFAs和多维疲劳量表-20。 治疗之前，我们获取了血液白细胞的全基因组基因表达谱。 低丁酸浓度显著与更高的疲劳相关（p = 0.013），与评估时间无关，并控制了混杂变量。 对于异/戊二酸也观察到类似的关联（p = 0.025）。 在放射治疗之前具有丁酸或异/戊二酸浓度前33％的个体间的基因表达比较显示出1,088个和881个显著差异表达的基因，分别（raw p < 0.05）。 从富集分析中得出的前10个基因本体术语揭示了与细胞因子以及脂质和脂肪酸生物合成相关的途径的参与。 这些发现表明，SCFAs可能调节炎症和免疫代谢反应，从而减轻与炎症相关的症状，如疲劳。 版权所有2023年Elsevier Inc.保留所有权利。

Fatigue among patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) has been associated with higher inflammation. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory effects. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the association between SCFAs and fatigue among patients with HNC undergoing treatment with radiotherapy with or without concurrent chemotherapy. Plasma SCFAs and the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-20 were collected prior to and one month after the completion of treatment in 59 HNC patients. The genome-wide gene expression profile was obtained from blood leukocytes prior to treatment. Lower butyrate concentrations were significantly associated with higher fatigue (p = 0.013) independent of time of assessment, controlling for covariates. A similar relationship was observed for iso/valerate (p = 0.025). Comparison of gene expression in individuals with the top and bottom 33% of butyrate or iso/valerate concentrations prior to radiotherapy revealed 1,088 and 881 significantly differentially expressed genes, respectively (raw p < 0.05). The top 10 Gene Ontology terms from the enrichment analyses revealed the involvement of pathways related to cytokines and lipid and fatty acid biosynthesis. These findings suggest that SCFAs may regulate inflammatory and immunometabolic responses and, thereby, reduce inflammatory-related symptoms, such as fatigue.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.