Various antibiotics have been used in the treatment of cancers, via their anti-proliferative, pro-apoptotic and anti-epithelial-mesenchymal-transition (EMT) capabilities. However, increasingly studies have indicated that antibiotics may also induce cancer generation by disrupting intestinal microbiota, which further promotes chronic inflammation, alters normal tissue metabolism, leads to genotoxicity and weakens the immune response to bacterial malnutrition, thereby adversely impacting cancer treatment. Despite the advent of high-throughput sequencing technology in recent years, the potential adverse effects of antibiotics on cancer treatments via causing microbial imbalance has been largely ignored. In this review, we discuss the double-edged sword of antibiotics in the field of cancer treatments, explore their potential mechanisms and provide solutions to reduce the potential negative effects of antibiotics.
Tooth brushing is necessary to maintain oral health. Little research has been carried out to explore microbial diversity in toothbrushes and to study the potential impact of these bacteria on human health. In the present study, 20 participants were enrolled, and the microbial diversity in their oral cavity and toothbrushes was investigated using high-throughput sequencing. Our results indicate that 1,136 and 976 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were obtained from groups CB (samples from toothbrushes of participants using traditional Chinese medicinal toothpaste) and AB (samples from toothbrushes of those using antibacterial toothpaste), respectively. The pathogens Acinetobacter baumannii, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans were identified on toothbrushes. The presence of these pathogens increases the chance for the host to get infectious diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and cancers. Moreover, our in vitro results indicate that traditional Chinese medicinal toothpaste and antibacterial toothpaste can not only inhibit the growth of pathogens but also markedly inhibit the growth of probiotics Lactobacillus salivarius and Streptococcus salivarius. Therefore, the inhibitory effect of toothpaste on probiotics, together with the existence of pathogens in toothbrushes, indicates a potential risk of tooth brushing for people in a sub-healthy state.
Infertility is one of the most common reproductive system diseases, and no effective method is available for its treatment. Although in vitro fertilization (IVF) has been widely used to enhance the clinical pregnancy outcome of infertility, the unsatisfied pregnancy rate with unknown reasons is obtained. To identify the possible cause of IVF failure, 555 patients were enrolled in the present study to determine their relevant clinical characteristics and vaginal microbiota. Our results indicated that the age and endometrium thickness significantly affected the pregnancy success rate of pregnant patients (P group) and non-pregnant patients (NP group) receiving IVF, and high values of luteinizing hormone, estrogen and progesterone were observed from P group. Furthermore, the Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) indicated a different microbial composition in P group and NP group, and a higher microbial abundance had been identified in non-pregnant patients compared with pregnant patients. At phylum level, a higher abundance of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, and a lower abundance of Actinobacteria, Fusobacteria, and Bacteroidetes were obtained in pregnant patients compared with non-pregnant patients. At genus level, a lower abundance of the probiotic Lactobacillus, and higher abundance of pathogens Gardnerella and Prevotella were identified from non-pregnant patients. Therefore, the disordered microbiota, characterizing by the reduction of probiotics and overgrowth of pathogens in non-pregnant patients, may be used as a potential indicator for a higher IVF failure rate.
BackgroundPrevious observational studies have showed that certain psychiatric disorders may be linked to breast cancer risk, there is, however, little understanding of relationships between mental disorders and a variety of breast diseases. This study aims to investigate if mental disorders influence the risks of overall breast cancer, the two subtypes of breast cancer (ER+ and ER-), breast benign tumors and breast inflammatory diseases.MethodsDuring our research, genome-wide association study (GWAS) data for seven psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and anorexia nervosa) from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) and the UK Biobank were selected, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) significantly linked to these mental disorders were identified as instrumental variables. GWAS data for breast diseases came from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) as well as the FinnGen consortium. We performed two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses and multivariable MR analyses to assess these SNPs’ effects on various breast diseases. Both heterogeneity and pleiotropy were evaluated by sensitivity analyses.ResultsWhen the GWAS data of psychiatric disorders were derived from the PGC, our research found that schizophrenia significantly increased the risks of overall breast cancer (two-sample MR: OR 1.05, 95%CI [1.03-1.07], p = 3.84 × 10−6; multivariable MR: OR 1.06, 95%CI [1.04-1.09], p = 2.34 × 10−6), ER+ (OR 1.05, 95%CI [1.02-1.07], p = 5.94 × 10−5) and ER- (two-sample MR: OR 1.04, 95%CI [1.01-1.07], p = 0.006; multivariable MR: OR 1.06, 95%CI [1.02-1.10], p = 0.001) breast cancer. Nevertheless, major depressive disorder only showed significant positive association with overall breast cancer (OR 1.12, 95%CI [1.04-1.20], p = 0.003) according to the two-sample MR analysis, but not in the multivariable MR analysis. In regards to the remainder of the mental illnesses and breast diseases, there were no significant correlations. While as for the data from the UK Biobank, schizophrenia did not significantly increase the risk of breast cancer.ConclusionsThe correlation between schizophrenia and breast cancer found in this study may be false positive results caused by underlying horizontal pleiotropy, rather than a true cause-and-effect relationship. More prospective studies are still needed to be carried out to determine the definitive links between mental illnesses and breast diseases.
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