A Pilot Study: Changes of Gut Microbiota in Post-surgery Colorectal Cancer Patients

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a growing health problem throughout the world. Strong evidences have supported that gut microbiota can influence tumorigenesis; however, little is known about what happens to gut microbiota following surgical resection. Here, we examined the changes of gut microbiota in CRC patients after the surgical resection. Using the PCoA analysis and dissimilarity tests, the microbial taxonomic compositions and diversities of gut microbiota in post-surgery CRC patients (A1) were significantly different from those in pre-surgery CRC patients (A0) and healthy individuals (H). Compared with A0 and H, the Shannon diversity and Simpson diversity were significantly decreased in A1 (P < 0.05). Based on the LEfSe analysis, the relative abundance of phylum Proteobacteria in A1 was significantly increased than that in A0 and H. The genus Klebsiella in A1 had higher proportions than that in A0 (P < 0.05). Individual variation was distinct; however, 90% of CRC patients in A1 had more abundances of Klebsiella than A0. The Klebsiella in A1 was significantly associated with infectious diseases (P < 0.05), revealed by the correlation analysis between differentiated genera and metabolic pathway. The Klebsiella (Proteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Enterobacteriales, Enterobacteriaceae) in A1 was significantly linked with lymphatic invasion (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the PCA of KEGG pathways indicated that gut microbiota with a more scattered distribution in A1 was noticeably different from that in A0 and H. The nodes, the links, and the kinds of phylum in each module in A1 were less than those in A0 and H, indicating that gut microbiota in A1 had a relatively looser ecologcial interaction network. To sum up, this pilot study identified the changes of gut microbiota in post-surgery CRC patients, and highlights future avenues in which the gut microbiota is likely to be of increasing importance in the care of surgical patients.

The effect of curative resection on fecal microbiota in patients with colorectal cancer: a prospective pilot study

“…Our study indicated that, following curative resection, Fusobacterium was significantly decreased at both genus and phylum levels. Recently, one pilot study reported changes in gut microbiota 1 month after palliative surgery or radical surgery in patients with CRC [24] where, consistent with our results, alpha diversity decreased after surgery. In that study, pathogens such as Fusobacterium and Parvimonas decreased at the genus level following surgery, but Klebsiella, which often predicts gut flora dysbiosis, increased.…”

Meta-analysis of 16S rRNA Microbial Data Identified Distinctive and Predictive Microbiota Dysbiosis in Colorectal Carcinoma Adjacent Tissue

“…Data set collection and sequencing data preprocessing. The 16 data sets were labeled as Zeller (5), Flemer (32), Burns (33), Baxter (10), China_GBA (China Great Bay Area) (23), MAL2 (34), MAL1 (34), Zackular (9), Kostic (35), PNAS (36), Brazil (19), China_KM (China, Kunming) (37), China_SH (38), China_QD (China, Qingdao) (39), and China_SHTJ (40). Raw sequence data and metadata were retrieved from the NCBI or from the authors directly.…”

Intestinal Microbiota in Colorectal Cancer Surgery

“…Cong et al [ 56 ] reported significantly reduced overall diversity in the fecal microbiota in post-surgery CRC patients compared to healthy individuals and pre-surgery CRC patients. This finding might reflect the further reduction in bacterial diversity as a result of perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis [ 31 ].…”