Difei Academic | High-throughput sequencing reveals the characteristics of microbial communities in the tissues of lung adenocarcinoma patients in Southwest China

In February 2023, Chen Xiaobo's team from the Thoracic Surgery Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University cooperated with Difei Medical.Environmental science and pollution research international(IF=5.19) The magazine published a research article.The study used 16S rRNA technology to detect the lung flora of 40 lung adenocarcinoma patients in Kunming.It was found that the genus Bifidobacterium may play an important role in lymph node metastasis and tumor progression, providing potential biomarkers for lung adenocarcinoma diagnosis.

People usually think of the lungs as sterile, but recent evidence shows that a unique microbiome exists in the lungs and is associated with the malignant transformation of lung tumors.The interaction between lung microbial communities and lung cancer is unclear.At present, most research on lung microorganisms focuses on sputum or alveolar lavage fluid, and few studies focus on lung tissue. This study uses lung cancer tissue as a test sample to explore the correlation between microbial composition and clinical characteristics of lung cancer.

/Research Highlights/

1. The test sample is lung cancer tissue.Compared with saliva, deep sputum and lungBubble lavage fluid sampleBetter reflects the reality of lung microorganismsCondition;

2. Analyze the correlation between tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, smoking status and lung flora in patients with lung adenocarcinoma, and discover the microbial Bifidobacteria with different characteristics;

3. The first report on the lung microbial characteristics of lung adenocarcinoma patients in Kunming, a city in southwestern China.

/ Research result /

1. 951 OTUs were identified in lung cancer tissue samples

At the phylum level, Firmicutes (32.4%±12.1%), Proteobacteria (24.5%±25.1%), Actinobacteria (17.3%±11.3%), Bacteroidetes (16.7%±14.0%) and Verrucomicrobia (3.3% ± 4.2%) was detected dominantly (average relative abundance>1%).At the genus level, a total of 21 genera were identified (average relative abundance>1%), among which the relative abundance of Bifidobacterium and Moraxella was the highest (Figure 1).

Figure 1 Relative abundance distribution of dominant bacterial genera in all samples

2. The microbial diversity of each group of lung adenocarcinoma is similar

The Shannon index is a parameter that measures species diversity in a community. The results showed that there was no significant difference in species diversity among each group (Figure 2).(Group: N0 stage and N+ stage, T1 stage and T2 stage, clinical stage (I, II, III), smoking and non-smoking)

3. Significant differences in the composition of microbial communities in different groups

The bacterial community analysis between N0 group and N+ group was obviously separated (p<0.001)(Figure 3A), and the difference is significant(Figure 3B); most samples in the T1 group are more homogeneous and clustered relative to the T2 group (Fig. 3C),And the difference is significant（p<0.001)（Figure 3D); similarly, in clinicalIn the groups of stages I, II and III, the bacterial flora in each stage were obviously separated (Figure 3E), and there was a significant difference in the distribution of bacterial flora in any two stages (Figure 3F).There was no significant difference in the distribution of microbiota between smokers and non-smokers.

Figure 3 Comparison of lung adenocarcinoma group compositions

4. Analysis of different species in each group of lung adenocarcinoma

Through LEFSe analysis, 8 differential taxa were found in the N0 and N+ groups, including 2 classes, 2 orders, 3 families, and 1 genus. These taxa have higher abundance in the N+ group (Figure 4A) .The differential genus is Bifidobacterium, and its relative abundance level is significantly different between the two groups.（p<0.05)(picture 4B).

Figure 4 Differential species analysis of N0 and N+ groups

A total of 15 differential taxa were found in the T1 group and T2 group, including 5 phyla and 10 genera.Phylum level includes Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Proteobacteria, and Fusobacteria(picture 5A); At the genus level, the different genera in the T2 group are Moraxella,The genus Clycoccus, etc., and the different genera in the T1 group were Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, etc. (Fig. 5B).

Figure 5 Analysis of species differences between T1 and T2 groups

/ Summarize /

In this study, 16s rRNA sequencing was used toDifferent subgroups of lung adenocarcinoma patients identified(N0 stage and N+ stage, T1 stage and T2 stage, clinical stage(Phase I, II, III), smoking and non-smoking）Characteristic microorganisms in lung cancer tissues,andThe abundance of the genus Bifidobacterium was found to correlate with lymph node metastasis and tumor progression.This study suggests that characteristic microorganisms can become a potential diagnostic marker for lung adenocarcinoma.

Compiler: Eat a pear Reviewer: Yixi Typesetting: Ah Xin

references:Chen M, Cui Y, Liu C, Tong X, Wang M, Wu C, Liu Y, Zhao Y, Chen X. Characteristics of the microbiome in lung adenocarcinoma tissue from patients in Kunming city of southwestern China. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Feb 14. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-25528-1. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36787077.