Lower airway bacterial microbiome may influence recurrence after resection of early-stage non–small cell lung cancer

The Lung Microbiome: A Central Mediator of Host Inflammation and Metabolism in Lung Cancer Patients?

“…This was independent of age, sex, smoking status, tumor histology and tumor grade. Patients with recurrence were found to have a bacterial signature in BALF that was enriched with Sphingomonas, Psychromonas and Serratia while the abundance of Cloacibacterium, Geobacillus and Brevibacterium were reduced [38]. Another study looked at how the bacterial composition of the lung microbiota in lung cancer patients correlated to outcomes.…”

The lung microbiome: progress and promise

“…Altered lung microbiome diversity in cancer specimens relative to nonmalignant matched tissue and cancer-free patient controls has also been described, although without uniformity in the directionality of that association (39,131,132). Unique bacterial profiles have also been associated with recurrence-and disease-free survival (39,133), and with specific mutations in squamous cell carcinoma (131). Compositional differences in lower airway microbiota have also been seen in lower airway brushings between small cell and non-small cell lung cancer (134).…”

Commentary: Lung cancer and dysbiosis: Debugging the studies for the future

“…Thoracic oncologists have enough on their collective mind trying to remember genomic or epigenomic targets for lung cancer, the newest checkpoint molecule to neutralize, or some immunologic phenomenon of the tumor microenvironment that explains progressors from nonprogressors after resection. As detailed by Patnaik and colleagues, 2 we must now recognize that the mucosal lined upper and lower airway has a microbiome that is not only involved with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 3 and tuberculosis, 4,5 but also may play a crucial part as a promoter of lung cancer. 1,[6][7][8][9] These investigators used archived saliva, tumor, lung cancer tissue, and matching lung from different specimen banks to classify the bacteria involved in the lung cancer microbiome (LCM).…”