Analysis of endometrial lavage microbiota reveals an increased relative abundance of the plastic-degrading bacteria Bacillus pseudofirmus and Stenotrophomonas rhizophila in women with endometrial cancer/endometrial hyperplasia

Abstract

The pathogenic influences of uterine bacteria on endometrial carcinogenesis remain unclear. The aim of this pilot study was to compare the microbiota composition of endometrial lavage samples obtained from women with either endometrial hyperplasia (EH) or endometrial cancer (EC) versus those with benign uterine conditions. We hypothesized that specific microbiota signatures would distinguish between the two groups, possibly leading to the identification of bacterial species associated with endometrial tumorigenesis. A total of 35 endometrial lavage specimens (EH, n = 18; EC, n = 7; metastatic EC, n = 2; benign endometrial lesions, n = 8) were collected from 32 women who had undergone office hysteroscopy. Microbiota composition was determined by sequencing the V3−V4 region of 16S rRNA genes and results were validated by real-time qPCR in 46 patients with EC/EH and 13 control women. Surprisingly, we found that Bacillus pseudofirmus and Stenotrophomonas rhizophila – two plastic-degrading bacterial species – were over-represented in endometrial lavage specimens collected from patients with EC/EH. Using computational analysis, we found that the functional profile of endometrial microbiota in EC/EH was associated with fatty acid and amino acid metabolism. In summary, our hypothesis-generating data indicate that the plastic-degrading bacteria Bacillus pseudofirmus and Stenotrophomonas rhizophila are over-represented within the endometrial lavage microbiota of women with EC/EH living in Taiwan. Whether this may be related to plastic pollution deserves further investigation.

Endometrial microbiota alteration in female patients with endometrial polyps based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis

“…Chao et al. reported a higher abundance of Rhodococcus in the uterine lavage fluid samples of patients with endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial cancer than in those with benign endometrial lesions, suggesting a potential association with abnormal endometrial proliferation ( Chao et al., 2022 ). Similarly, Lu et al.…”

A novel pathogenic species of genus Stenotrophomonas: Stenotrophomonas pigmentata sp. nov

“…Because of their phenotypic and genotypic diversity, the taxonomic status of the genus Stenotrophomonas and S. maltophilia has changed several times. Besides the species in the Stenotrophomonas maltophilia complex (SMc), S. maltophilia ( Chang et al., 2015 ; Patil et al., 2018 ; Bansal et al., 2021 ; Brooke, 2021 ) and S. sepilia ( Gautam et al., 2021 ), only S. pavanii ( Iebba et al., 2018 ), S. acidaminiphila ( Ježek et al., 2020 ; Zhang et al., 2022 ) and S. rhizophila ( Chao et al., 2022 ) have been isolated from human samples. The clinically important species S. africana ( Coenye et al., 2004 ) is classified as a synonym of S. maltophilia , whereas S. pavanii has been removed from SMc ( Rouf et al., 2011 ; Patil et al., 2018 ; Maturana and Cardenas, 2021 ; Deng et al., 2022 ).…”