Alteration of Gut Microbiome in Lung Cancer Patients

ABSTRACT Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death. Better understanding of factors and pathways involved in lung cancer is needed to improve diagnose and treatment strategies. Recent studies have provided insights into the possible correlation between intestinal dysbiosis and cancer development. Although the immunological relationship between gut and lung had been suggested by many researches, however, to date, no study had investigated the characterization of gut microbiome in treatment naïve lung cancer patients, whether it is distinct from that of health individuals and contribute to the onset and development of lung cancer remain unclear. In this study, we investigated whether gut microbiome of lung cancer patients (LC, n=28) is altered compare with that of matched healthy individuals (HC, n=19) by high throughout sequencing of the V3-V4 regions of 16S rDNA in their fecal samples. We also identified microbiota signatures specific for different histological types of lung cancer, including SSC, ADC, and SCLC. The gut microbiome of lung cancer patients is characterized by decreased relative abundance of Prevotella , and increased bacteria groups such as Actinomyces , and Streptococcus , etc. We also detected a mild structural shift in gut microbiome between ADC and SCLC patients. Our results showed that the gut microbiome of lung cancer patients altered significantly compared with healthy individuals. However, the association between microbial dysbiosis and lung cancer is not clearly understood, future studies involving larger cohorts and metagenomics, or metabolomics, may elucidate the correlations between gut microbiota and lung cancer development. IMPORTANCE This is the first report to show the alteration of gut microbiome in lung cancer patients. Our results showed that the gut microbiome of lung cancer patients altered significantly compared with healthy individuals.