{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]],"date-time":"2026-09-28T21:29:46Z","timestamp":1790630986157,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783987200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have transformed cancer therapy, yet clinical responses remain highly variable, and microbiome-associated findings lack reproducibility across studies. Increasing evidence implicates the gut microbiome in modulating ICI efficacy; however, findings remain inconsistent at the taxonomic level, raising the possibility that functionally convergent immunological mechanisms may underlie this apparent variability. To address this, a critical synthesis was conducted, integrating bibliometric mapping of publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (2013\u20132025; n = 2,195) with a secondary analysis of ClinicalTrials.gov to evaluate interventional activity. Bibliometric approaches assessed scientific production, thematic evolution, and co-citation structure, complemented by a cross-cohort functional integration of representative clinical and preclinical studies to evaluate whether microbiome\u2013ICI interactions converge on shared immunological pathways despite divergent taxonomic signatures. Publication output increased steadily, with a marked translational surge following landmark clinical studies in 2018 and a peak in trial initiation in 2021. Thematic analyses revealed a shift from mechanistic and tumor-centered research toward clinically oriented and intervention-driven themes, including microbiome modulation, microbial metabolites, and the tumor microenvironment. Although individual response-associated taxa differed substantially across independent cohorts, qualitative functional integration supported a model of convergence in immunomodulatory pathways involving short-chain fatty acid production, dendritic cell activation, and CD8\n                    <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                    T-cell priming. Collectively, these findings suggest that apparent taxonomic inconsistencies across microbiome\u2013ICI studies may reflect underlying functional convergence rather than biological contradiction, supporting a shift toward function-based frameworks for biomarker discovery and microbiome-directed immunomodulation.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2026.1883259","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T08:35:59Z","timestamp":1784018159000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Functional convergence amid taxonomic variability in gut microbiome\u2013immune checkpoint inhibitor research: a bibliometric and mechanistic synthesis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Yousef N.","family":"Alanazi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Northern 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