Intestinal Flora Disruption and Novel Biomarkers Associated With Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant nasopharyngeal disease with a complicated etiology that occurs mostly in southern China. Intestinal flora imbalance is believed to be associated with a variety of organ malignancies. Current studies revealed that the destruction of intestinal flora is associated with NPC, and many studies have shown that intestinal flora can be used as a biomarker for many cancers and to predict cancer.Methods: To compare the differences in intestinal flora compositions and biological functions among 8 patients with familial NPC (NPC_F), 24 patients with sporadic NPC (NPC_S), and 27 healthy controls (NOR), we compared the intestinal flora DNA sequencing and hematological testing results between every two groups using bioinformatic methods.Results: Compared to the NOR group, the intestinal flora structures of the patients in the NPC_F and NPC_S groups showed significant changes. In NPC_F, Clostridium ramosum, Citrobacter spp., Veillonella spp., and Prevotella spp. were significantly increased, and Akkermansia muciniphila and Roseburia spp. were significantly reduced. In NPC_S, C. ramosum, Veillonella parvula, Veillonella dispar, and Klebsiella spp. were significantly increased, and Bifidobacterium adolescentis was significantly reduced. A beta diversity analysis showed significant difference compared NPC_F with NOR based on Bray Curtis (P = 0.012) and Unweighted UniFrac (P = 0.0045) index, respectively. The areas under the ROC curves plotted were all 1. Additionally, the concentrations of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in NPC_F and NPC_S were significantly higher than those of NOR. C. ramosum was positively correlated with 5-HT (rcm: 0.85, P < 0.001). A functional analysis of the intestinal flora showed that NPC_F was associated with Neurodegenerative Diseases (P = 0.023) and that NPC_S was associated with Neurodegenerative Diseases (P = 0.045) as well.Conclusion: We found that NPC was associated with structural imbalances in the intestinal flora, with C. ramosum that promoted the elevation of 5-HT and opportunistic pathogens being significantly increased, while probiotics significantly decreased. C. ramosum can be used as a novel biomarker and disease prediction models should be established for NPC. The new biomarkers and disease prediction models may be used for disease risk prediction and the screening of high-risk populations, as well as for the early noninvasive diagnosis of NPC.

Association Between Oral Microbiota and Cigarette Smoking in the Chinese Population

“…In addition, at the species level, Prevotella melaninogenica and Prevotella pallens were associated with oral squamous cell carcinoma (Pushalkar et al, 2012). Veillonella dispar was significantly increased in the intestinal flora of sporadic nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients (Jiang et al, 2019). Cigarette smoking may affect the health of smokers by affecting these bacteria.…”

The Relationship Between Gut Microbiome Features and Chemotherapy Response in Gastrointestinal Cancer

“…may benefit human bodies by preventing inflammatory bowel disease ( 39 ), obesity ( 40 ), and type II diabetes ( 41 ), among other advantages. It has also been suggested that Roseburia may be negatively correlated with the development of several tumors, such as CRC ( 6 , 42 , 43 ), cervical cancer ( 44 ), nasopharyngeal cancer ( 45 ), lung cancer ( 46 ), and multiple myeloma ( 47 ). Recently, clinical studies of lung cancer showed that patients with lung cancer with a higher abundance of Roseburia at the baseline were more likely to have GI reactions to chemotherapy.…”

Roseburia intestinalis: A Beneficial Gut Organism From the Discoveries in Genus and Species

“…After a careful evaluation of the literature reports on CRC microbiota based on their large size and consistent results, we provide evidence that R. intestinalis may be a definite protective factor and a reliable biomarker in CRC. However, for other cancers (nasopharyngeal carcinoma and cervical cancer), divergent results were found ( Jiang et al., 2019 ; Wang et al., 2019 ). It is notable that both studies displayed connections between Roseburia abundance and cancer risk, although the results were not related to the beneficial effect of Roseburia .…”