Effect of gastrointestinal microbiome and its diversity on the expression of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in breast cancer.

person Jiajie Shi The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China info_outline Jiajie Shi, Cuizhi Geng

Authors person Jiajie Shi The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China info_outline Jiajie Shi, Cuizhi Geng Organizations The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China, Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China Abstract Disclosures Research Funding Other Government Agency Background: The diversity of gastrointestinal microbiome is closely related to human health. In the present study, we compared gastrointestinal microbiome and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in breast cancer (BC) patients. Methods: A total of 80 BC patients were divided into three groups based on the expression of TILs as follows: high expression of TILs (TIL-H), medium expression of TILs (TIL-M) and low expression of TILs (TIL-L). DNA of gastrointestinal microbiome was determined by Illumina sequencing and taxonomy of 16S rRNA genes. Kruskal-Wallis test and UniFrac analysis of β-diversity were applied to assess the relationship between patients’ clinical characteristics and diversity of gastrointestinal microbiome. Results: The β-diversity distribution was statistically significant (weighted UniFrac P < 0.01, unweighted UniFac P < 0.01 ) when comparing between the TIL-L and TIL-H groups or among the three groups (TIL-H vs. TIL-M vs. TIL-L). At the genus level, higher abundances of Mycobacterium, Rhodococcus, Catenibacterium, Bulleidia, Anaerofilum, Sneathia, Devosia and TG5 but lower abundances of Methanosphaera and Anaerobiospirillum ( P < 0.05 ) were identified in the TIL-L group compared with the TIL-H group . At the species level, the species of stercoris, barnesiae, coprophilus, flavefaciens and C21_c20 displayed a higher abundance in the TIL-L group, while producta and komagatae exhibited a greater abundance in the TIL-H group ( P < 0.05 ). Conclusions: Collectively, the diversity of gastrointestinal microbiome was related to the expression of TILs in BC patients.