Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Nov 28;31(12):727.
doi: 10.1007/s00520-023-08196-2.

Anxiety in oncology outpatients is associated with perturbations in pathways identified in anxiety focused network pharmacology research

Kate Oppegaard  1 , Kord M Kober  1 , Carolyn Harris  2 , Joosun Shin  1 , Lisa Morse  1 , Alejandra Calvo-Schimmel  1 , Steven M Paul  1 , Bruce A Cooper  1 , Yvette P Conley  2 , Marilyn Hammer  3 , Vasuda Dokiparthi  1 , Jon D Levine  4 , Christine Miaskowski  5   6
Affiliations

Anxiety in oncology outpatients is associated with perturbations in pathways identified in anxiety focused network pharmacology research

Kate Oppegaard et al. Support Care Cancer. .

Abstract

Purpose: Evaluate for perturbed signaling pathways associated with subgroups of patients with low versus high levels of state anxiety. These pathways were compared to the pathways identified across eight network pharmacology studies of the anxiolytic effect(s) of a variety of compounds.

Methods: Adult outpatients had a diagnosis of breast, gastrointestinal, gynecological, or lung cancer; had received chemotherapy within the preceding four weeks; and were scheduled to receive at least two additional cycles of chemotherapy. Latent profile analysis was used to identify subgroups of patients with distinct anxiety profiles based on Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory scores that were obtained six times over two cycles of chemotherapy. Blood samples were processed using RNA sequencing (i.e., RNA-seq sample, n = 244) and microarray (i.e., microarray sample; n = 256) technologies. Pathway perturbations were assessed using pathway impact analysis. Fisher's combined probability method was used to combine test results using a false discovery rate of 0.01.

Results: In the RNA-seq sample, 62.3% and 37.7% of the patients were in the low- and high-anxiety classes, respectively. In the microarray sample, 61.3% and 38.7% were in the low and high-anxiety classes, respectively. Forty-one perturbed signaling pathways were identified. Eight of these pathways were common to those identified in the network pharmacology studies.

Conclusions: Findings increase our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms that underlie anxiety in patients receiving chemotherapy. This study provides initial insights into how anxiety in patients with cancer may share common mechanisms with anxiety in patients with other clinical conditions.

Keywords: Anxiety; Cancer; Chemotherapy; Pathway impact analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Brunckhorst O, Hashemi S, Martin A, George G, Van Hemelrijck M, Dasgupta P, Stewart R, Ahmed K. Depression, anxiety, and suicidality in patients with prostate cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2020;24:281–289. - PubMed
    1. Hashemi S-M, Rafiemanesh H, Aghamohammadi T, Badakhsh M, Amirshahi M, Sari M, Behnamfar N, Roudini K. Prevalence of anxiety among breast cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Breast Cancer. 2020;27:166–178. - PubMed
    1. Linden W, Vodermaier A, MacKenzie R, Greig D. Anxiety and depression after cancer diagnosis: prevalence rates by cancer type, gender, and age. J Affect Dis. 2012;141:343–351. - PubMed
    1. Vargas-Roman K, Diaz-Rodriguez CL, Canadas-De la Fuente GA, Gomez-Urquiza JL, Ariza T, De la Fuente-Solana EI. Anxiety prevalence in lymphoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Psychol. 2020;39:580–588. - PubMed
    1. Zhu L, Tong YX, Xu XS, Xiao AT, Zhang YJ, Zhang S. High level of unmet needs and anxiety are associated with delayed initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy for colorectal cancer patients. Support Care Cancer. 2020;28:5299–5306. - PMC - PubMed