Biomarkers of fatigue related to adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: evaluation of plasma and lymphocyte expression

Background Fatigue is common in cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. To further understand the mechanism of fatigue and search for potential biomarkers, we conducted this prospective study. Methods We enrolled breast cancer (BC) patients before their first adjuvant Adriamycin-based chemotherapy cycle. Patients responded to the brief fatigue inventory (BFI) and Chalder fatigue questionnaires and had their blood drawn for both plasma evaluation and evaluation of the peripheral mononuclear cell fraction (PMNCF) mRNA expression of various biomarkers. We evaluated FSH, LH, estradiol, DHEA, DHEAS, IL6, IL2, ILIRA, IL1β, CRP, Cortisol in the plasma and IL2, IL10, IL6, TGF-β, KLRC1, TNF, BTP, SNCA, SOD1, BLNK, PTGS2 and INF γ expression in the PMNCF.