| Summary: | The interactions between aromatase inhibitors (AI) in breast cancer (BC) and gut microbiota (GM) have not been completely established yet. The aim of the study is to evaluate the bio-diversity of GM and the relationship between GM, inflammation and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in postmenopausal women with BC during adjuvant AI treatment compared to women with disease relapse during or after one year of AI therapy (“endocrine-resistant”). We conducted a monocenter observational case-control study. Eighty-four women with BC (8 cases, 76 controls) were enrolled from 2019 to 2021. We observed a significant difference in the mean microbial abundance between the two groups for the taxonomic rank of order (<i>p</i> 0.035) and family (<i>p</i> 0.029); specifically, the <i>case</i> group showed higher diversity than the <i>control</i> group. <i>Veillonella</i> reached its maximum abundance in <i>cases</i> (<i>p</i> 0.022). Cytokine levels were compared among the groups created considering the TILs levels. We obtained a statistically significant difference (<i>p</i> 0.045) in IL-17 levels among the groups, with patients with low TILs levels showing a higher median value for IL-17 (0.15 vs. 0.08 pg/mL). Further studies about the bio-diversity in women with BC may lead to the development of new biomarkers and targeted interventions.
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