Profiling Of Lung Microbial Communities In Lung Cancer And Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients

Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA Background: The composition and structure of site-specific microbiota have recently been described as a biomarker associated with a variety of high impact diseases including cancer. This study sought to identify lung microbial signatures in smokers with lung cancer (LC) and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Material and Methods: We employed 16S rRNA gene compositional analysis to compare the microbiota in Optimal Cutting Temperature (OCT) embedded biopsies of lung-tissue from 30 smokers, including 10 patients with LC only, 10 patients with COPD only, and 10 patients with both LC and COPD, selected from a longitudinal study of COPD exacerbation conducted in Houston, Texas, during 2005 to 2012. Results: Microbial signatures calculated based on the 16S rRNA gene data showed that patients with COPD only presented a very distinct microbial structure defined by a significantly lower Shannon Diversity Index compared to patients with LC only (P = 0.04), and patients with both LC and COPD (P = 0.003), suggesting lower bacterial richness and evenness. Furthermore, biopsies from patients with COPD only were characterized by an increased prevalence of Acinetobacter (P < 0.0001) and Acidovorax (P < 0.0001), and a lower prevalence of Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus, and Ruminococcus species compared to patients with LC only and those with both LC and COPD. However, patients with both COPD and LC were indistinguishable from those with LC only. Conclusions: This study is the first and largest to examine the composition of the lung microbiome in smokers with LC and/or COPD. Specific bacterial signatures were identified in patients with LC only and those with both COPD and LC demonstrating that the lung microbiome can be used as a biomarker for the two diseases. Altogether, we observed altered lung microbiota of COPD and LC, but whether this is involved in disease causation or is a consequence of host selection remains unclear. Citation Format: Yanhong Liu, Nadim J Ajami, Matthew C Wong, Michael Scheurer, E. Susan Amirian, Joseph F Petrosino, Margaret R Spitz, Melissa L Bondy, Farrah Kheradmand. Profiling of lung microbial communities in lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2879. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2879