Characteristics of Esophagus Flora in Patients with Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Central China

Abstract

Microecology may be involved in tumorigenesis and development through the introduction of chronic inflammation and may be related to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). This study was to observe the characteristics of ESCC flora and to preliminarily analyze the key genera in ESCC. A total of 72 ESCC patients and 20 healthy individuals esophageal tissue samples, genomic DNA was extracted, PCR was performed on the bacterial 16SrRNA gene sequence V4 hypervariable region, and bacterial characteristics were analyzed by IlluminMiSeq sequencing. The esophageal flora abundance of ESCC patients (Alpha diversity: Shannon index, P = 0.5088; Simpson index, P = 0.5894; Chao1 index, P = 0.0029) and variability (Beta diversity: PC1 16.62%, P PC1 = 0.0034, P PC2 =8.5e-08) were significantly higher than HC tissue. The five most abundant phylum in ESCC group were Firmicutes, Bacteroidietes, Proteobacteria, Fusobacteria and Actinobacteria, while the HC group were Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidietes, Fusobacteria and Actinobacteria. The top five genus in the ESCC group were Streptococcus, Prevotella, Haemophilus, Neisseria and Veillonella; while the top five genus in the HC group were Streptococcus, Neisseria, Veillonella, Prevotella and Haemophilus. The ESCC group has advantages over HC in Aerobic、Anaerobic、Contains-Mobile-Elements、Facultatively-Anaerobic、Forms-Biofilms、Potentially-pathogenic、Stress-Tolerant, and the difference was statistically significant (P <0.05). The esophageal microbial community structure of ESCC patients is different from that of HC, suggesting that the corresponding changes in esophageal microflora have a certain correlation with ESCC. It indicates that the detection of esophageal microorganisms has potential as a means of early diagnosis or screening of future ESCC.