Identification of tissue-specific microbial profile of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma by full-length 16S rDNA sequencing

• Published in: Applied microbiology and biotechnology Vol. 106; no. 8; pp. 3215 - 3229
• Main Authors: Shen, Weitao, Tang, Derong, Wan, Ping, Peng, Zhenyan, Sun, Mingjun, Guo, Xinxin, Liu, Ran
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-04-2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied Microbial and Cell Physiology; Bacteria; Bacteria - genetics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biosynthesis; Biotechnology; Biotin; Cancer; Community structure; Diagnosis; DNA sequencing; DNA, Ribosomal; Esophageal cancer; Esophageal diseases; Esophageal Neoplasms - genetics; Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma - genetics; Esophagus; Genetic aspects; Humans; Life Sciences; Lipopolysaccharides; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbiology; Microbiomes; Microbiota; Microorganisms; Nucleotide sequencing; Proteobacteria; Relative abundance; rRNA 16S; Squamous cell carcinoma; Streptococcus; Structure-function relationships; Tissues; Tumors; China; Microbial profile; Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; In situ microorganism; full-length sequencing; 16S rDNA full-length sequencing
• ISSN: 0175-7598; 1432-0614
• DOI: 10.1007/s00253-022-11921-2

It was previously believed that the microbial community in the esophagus was relatively stable, but it has been reported that different esophageal diseases have different microbial community characteristics. In this study, we recruited patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and collected 51 pairs of tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues for full-length 
16S rDNA
sequencing and qPCR to compare the differences in microbial community structure. The results of sequencing in 19 pairs of tissues showed that
Proteobacteria
,
Firmicutes
,
Bacteroidetes
,
Deinococcus-Thermus
, and
Actinobacteria
were the main bacteria in tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues. At the genus level, the bacteria with the highest relative proportion in tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues were 
Streptococcus 
and 
Labrys
, respectively. At the same time, it was observed that the complexity of microbial interactions in tumor tissues was weaker than that of adjacent non-tumor tissues. The results also found that the relative abundance of 24 taxa was statistically different between tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues. The findings of qPCR in 32 pairs of tissues further evidence that the relative proportions of 
Blautia
, 
Treponema
, 
Lactobacillus murinus
,
Peptoanaerobacter stomatis
, and 
Fusobacteria periodonticum 
were statistically different in tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues. The findings of PIRCUSt2 indicated the lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis and biotin metabolism in the microbiome of cancer tissues are more significant. This study supplements the existing information on the structure, function, and interaction of microorganisms in the esophagus in situ and provides a direction for the further exploration of the relationship between esophageal in situ microorganisms and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
Key points
•
The structure of the microbial community in esophageal cancer tissue and adjacent non-tumor tissues at the phylum level is similar
•
Streptococcus and Labrys are the most important bacteria in esophageal tumor tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues, respectively
•
Microbial interactions in tumor tissues are stronger than in adjacent non-tumor tissues