Transcriptomic signatures of mind-body transformations therapy in breast cancer: Downregulation of the interferon signaling pathway.

BACKGROUND: Growing evidence has shown that Mind-Body Transformations-Therapies (MBT-T) are able to modulate chronic inflammation, a well-known driver of cancer progression and drug resistance. In our previous work, we showed that a specific MBT-T protocol was able to reduce the release of various pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in the sera of patients with breast cancer that completed adjuvant chemotherapy. Despite these clinical observations, the underlying molecular pathways through which this therapy exerts its effects remain unclear. This study aims to address this gap by characterizing genome-wide transcriptional profiles in patients undergoing a novel MBT-T protocol. METHODS: In this proof-of-concept study, patients with breast cancer were randomized into two groups: Group 1 (CTL), receiving standard follow-up care, and Group 2 (MBT-T), receiving standard follow-up plus biweekly MBT-T for 4 months. Blood samples were collected at different timepoints during the treatment. After RNA extraction from whole blood, gene expression was analyzed on twenty-one patients (CTL, n = 7; MBT-T, n = 14) using the nCounter® Human Inflammation Panel (249 genes). RESULTS: Patients undergoing MBT-T showed a significant global downregulation of inflammatory gene expression compared to the control group. The analysis revealed that the Interferon (IFN) signaling pathway was the most significantly suppressed, by downregulation of key genes such as IFIT1, IFIT3, IFI44, MX1 and OASL in the MBT-T group. CONCLUSIONS: MBT-T acts as a biological modulator capable of downregulating key inflammatory pathways at the transcriptional level. These findings provide a genomic basis for the clinical benefits of mind-body interventions in oncology.