Fig. 2

Association and causal relationship between the gut microbiota and antitumor effect of gefitinib treatments. a PCoA plot for all stool samples from different groups (left panel) and time points (right panel). b CTF based on stool microbial profiling results for all individuals from different groups. In the center of the 3D scatter plot, the healthy controls (group HC) and tumor-bearing mice without any treatment (group LUAD) were close to each other, and TKIs treatment combined with probiotics (group TKI + PRO), antibiotics (group TKI + ANT), and TCM (group TKI + TCM) were separately clustered above or below the healthy controls. c CME test results using antibiotics, probiotics, and TCM as treatments and different antitumor measurements as outcomes. To reduce the false-positive identification of mediators, we selected ASVs that had significant CME (with P-value < 0.05) (1) at more than two time points; (2) in more than 50% of measurements; and (3) using all three methods (antibiotic, TCM, and probiotic) as the treatment