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Updated: Jun 12, 2025
Characterization and Functional Prediction of Bacteria in Ovarian Tissues
Published on: October 23, 2021
Altered microbial diversity and composition of multiple mucosal organs in cervical cancer patients
Lan Peng1, Conghui Ai2, Zhongyan Dou1
1Department of Radiation Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University (Yunnan Cancer Hospital, Yunnan Cancer Center), 519 Kunzhou Road, Xishan District, Kunming, 650118, China.
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to characterize the microbiome of multiple mucosal organs in cervical cancer (CC) patients.
Methods:
We collected oral, gut, urinary tract, and vaginal samples from enrolled study participants, as well as tumor tissue from CC patients. The microbiota of different mucosal organs was identified by 16S rDNA sequencing and correlated with clinical-pathological characteristics of cervical cancer cases.
Results:
Compared with controls, CC patients had reduced α-diversity of oral and gut microbiota (pOral_Sob < 0.001, pOral_Shannon = 0.049, pOral_Simpson = 0.013 pFecal_Sob = 0.030), although there was an opposite trend in the vaginal microbiota (pVaginal_Pielou = 0.028, pVaginal_Simpson = 0.006). There were also significant differences in the β-diversity of the microbiota at each site between cases and controls (pOral = 0.002, pFecal = 0.037, pUrine = 0.001, pVaginal = 0.001). The uniformity of urine microbiota was lower in patients with cervical squamous cell carcinoma (pUrine = 0.036) and lymph node metastasis (pUrine_Sob = 0.027, pUrine_Pielou = 0.028, pUrine_Simpson = 0.021, pUrine_Shannon = 0.047). The composition of bacteria in urine also varied among patients with different ages (p = 0.002), tumor stages (p = 0.001) and lymph node metastasis (p = 0.002). In CC cases, Pseudomonas were significantly enriched in the oral, gut, and urinary tract samples. In addition, Gardnerella, Anaerococcus, and Prevotella were biomarkers of urinary tract microbiota; Abiotrophia and Lautropia were obviously enriched in the oral microbiota. The microbiota of tumor tissue correlated with other mucosal organs (except the gut), with a shift in the microflora between mucosal organs and tumors.
Conclusions:
Our study not only revealed differences in the composition and diversity of the vaginal and gut microflora between CC cases and controls, but also showed dysbiosis of the oral cavity and urethra in cervical cancer cases.
