Microbiome signatures in prostate cancer

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Oncology
• Genomics

Background:

• The human microbiome plays a role in various diseases.
• Understanding the microbiome's role in prostate cancer is crucial for diagnosis and treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a microbiome signature for prostate cancer.
• To investigate the potential of microbiome signatures for clinical diagnosis and outcome prediction.

Main Methods:

• Array-based metagenomics and capture-sequencing.
• Hierarchical clustering analysis.
• Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) for validation.

Main Results:

• A diverse microbiome signature (viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic) was identified in prostate cancer samples.
• Three distinct prostate cancer-specific microbiome signatures were correlated with cancer grade, stage, and score.
• Integration of viral and Helicobacter sequences into host chromosomes was observed in tumor cells.

Conclusions:

• Microbiome signature analysis shows potential for prostate cancer diagnosis and outcome prediction.
• Viral and Helicobacter integrations may influence oncogenic gene expression in prostate tumors.