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Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Patients Exhibit Distinctive Alterations in the Gut Microbiota
Xiaoming Liu1, Yao Zou1, Min Ruan1
1State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, National Clinical Research Center for Blood Diseases, Division of Pediatric Blood Diseases Center, Institute of Hematology & Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, China.
Insights
Gut microbiota composition differs in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Specific bacterial species in the gut are linked to ALL, offering new insights into disease development and potential diagnostic markers.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Immunology
- Oncology
Background:
- The gut microbiota plays a crucial role in modulating the human immune system.
- Altered gut microbial composition has been implicated in various diseases, including cancers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate quantitative differences in fecal bacterial composition between pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients and healthy children.
- To identify specific bacterial species associated with the etiology of ALL.
Main Methods:
- Recruitment of 81 subjects (58 ALL patients, 23 healthy controls).
- Analysis of fecal samples using 16S rRNA quantitative arrays and bioinformatics.
- Application of Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) and Non-metric Multidimensional scaling (NMDS) for microbial community analysis.
- Utilized a random forest model for classification.
Main Results:
- Gut microbial composition significantly differed between ALL patients and healthy controls, with ALL samples showing deviation from the healthy cluster.
- Significant alterations in specific bacterial species, including *Roseburia faecis*, *Edwardsiella tarda*, and *Fusobacterium naviforme*, were observed in ALL patients.
- Some differentially abundant taxa correlated with interleukin-10 levels.
- A random forest model accurately distinguished ALL cases from controls (AUC = 0.843).
Conclusions:
- Pediatric ALL is associated with distinct gut microbiota profiles compared to healthy individuals.
- Several gut bacterial species are identified as potentially related to ALL pathogenesis.
- These findings provide a foundation for further research into the host-gut microbiota interactions in ALL development and diagnosis.
Abstract:
Previous studies have shown that gut microbiota can affect human immune system in many ways. Our aim was to investigate quantitative differences in fecal bacterial compositions of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients compared to those of healthy children, so as to identify individual bacterial species that are related to the etiology of ALL. We recruited 81 subjects, including 58 patients with ALL and 23 healthy controls. Fecal samples were collected and examined by 16S rRNA quantitative arrays and bioinformatics analysis. Both Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) and Non-metric Multidimensional scaling (NMDS) demonstrated that the microbial composition of ALL patients deviated from the tight cluster of healthy controls. Multiple bacterial species exhibited significant changes (e.g., Roseburia faecis, Edwardsiella tarda, and Fusobacterium naviforme) in the ALL samples. Some of the differentially abundant taxa were correlated with the level of interleukin-10. The ALL cases could be efficiently distinguished from healthy controls by the random forest model based on differential species (area under ROC curve = 0.843). Taken together, the composition of gut microbiota differed from healthy controls to pediatric ALL patients. Our study identified a series of ALL-related species in the gut microbiota, providing a new direction for future studies aiming to understand the host-gut microbiota interplay in ALL pathogenesis.
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