Microbial dysbiosis is associated with human breast cancer

Study information

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study design

case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

24421902

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.1371/journal.pone.0083744

URI

Authors

Xuan C, Shamonki JM, Chung A, Dinome ML, Chung M, Sieling PA, Lee DJ

Journal

PloS one

Year

2014

Breast cancer affects one in eight women in their lifetime. Though diet, age and genetic predisposition are established risk factors, the majority of breast cancers have unknown etiology. The human microbiota refers to the collection of microbes inhabiting the human body. Imbalance in microbial communities, or microbial dysbiosis, has been implicated in various human diseases including obesity, diabetes, and colon cancer. Therefore, we investigated the potential role of microbiota in breast cancer by next-generation sequencing using breast tumor tissue and paired normal adjacent tissue from the same patient. In a qualitative survey of the breast microbiota DNA, we found that the bacterium Methylobacterium radiotolerans is relatively enriched in tumor tissue, while the bacterium Sphingomonas yanoikuyae is relatively enriched in paired normal tissue. The relative abundances of these two bacterial species were inversely correlated in paired normal breast tissue but not in tumor tissue, indicating that dysbiosis is associated with breast cancer. Furthermore, the total bacterial DNA load was reduced in tumor versus paired normal and healthy breast tissue as determined by quantitative PCR. Interestingly, bacterial DNA load correlated inversely with advanced disease, a finding that could have broad implications in diagnosis and staging of breast cancer. Lastly, we observed lower basal levels of antibacterial response gene expression in tumor versus healthy breast tissue. Taken together, these data indicate that microbial DNA is present in the breast and that bacteria or their components may influence the local immune microenvironment. Our findings suggest a previously unrecognized link between dysbiosis and breast cancer which has potential diagnostic and therapeutic implications.

Experiment 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Atrayees on 2023-7-26

Curated date: 2021/01/10

Curator: WikiWorks

Revision editor(s): Rimsha, WikiWorks, Victoria

Subjects

Location of subjects: United States of America

Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled. Contact us to have more species added.: Homo sapiens

Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology: Breast Mamma,Mammary part of chest,Mammary region,Breast,breast

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology: Breast carcinoma breast cancer,breast cancer, NOS,breast carcinoma,cancer of breast,cancer of the breast,cancer, breast,carcinoma of breast,carcinoma of the breast,mammary carcinoma,Breast carcinoma

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: normal tissue

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: tumor tissue

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 20

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 20

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V4

Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance: Illumina

Statistical Analysis

Data transformation Data transformation applied to microbial abundance measurements prior to differential abundance testing (if any).: raw counts

Statistical test: T-Test

Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any): 0.05

MHT correction Have statistical tests be corrected for multiple hypothesis testing (MHT)?: No

Confounders controlled for Confounding factors that have been accounted for by stratification or model adjustment: age

Alpha Diversity

Richness Number of species: unchanged

Signature 1

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Curated date: 2021/01/10

Curator: Rimsha Azhar

Revision editor(s): WikiWorks, Atrayees

Source: Table S2 and Figure 1d

Description: OTUs enriched in paired normal or tumor tissue

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in tumor tissue

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Methylobacterium radiotolerans
Flavobacterium
Methylobacterium
Methylobacteriaceae

Revision editor(s): WikiWorks, Atrayees

Signature 2

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Atrayees on 2023-7-26

Curated date: 2021/01/10

Curator: Rimsha Azhar

Revision editor(s): WikiWorks, Atrayees

Source: Table S2 and Figure 1d

Description: OTUs enriched in paired normal or tumor tissue

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in tumor tissue

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Sphingobium yanoikuyae
Sphingomonas
Nitrosomonas
Novosphingobium aromaticivorans
Bradyrhizobium
Streptococcus pseudopneumoniae
Sphingomonadaceae

Revision editor(s): WikiWorks, Atrayees