Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital affiliated to Tongji University School of Medicine, No. 301 Yanchang Road, Jingan District, Shanghai, China.
Research Institute for Intestinal Diseases affiliated to Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2017 Dec;36(12):2457-2468. doi: 10.1007/s10096-017-3085-6. Epub 2017 Aug 18.
Microbiota refers to a colony of microorganisms, and they are found in all multicellular organisms. This colony plays a major role in both the physiology and disease of the organism it inhabits. Much attention has been paid to host-microbiota interactions, but there has been little investigation on its role in carcinogenesis. In this study, we characterized a fecal mycobiota, also known as fungal signature, for the first time with 131 subjects, comprising polyp and colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, as well as a healthy control population. The data obtained were analyzed to assess the biodiversity and composition of the fungi. The impacts of anatomic position and tumor stage on the mycobiota were also evaluated. Correlations between fungi were investigated using the Spearman test. We observed fungal dysbiosis in colon polyps and CRC, including decreased diversity in polyp patients, an increased Ascomycota/Basidiomycota ratio, and an increased proportion of opportunistic fungi Trichosporon and Malassezia, which might favor the progression of CRC. Subsequent analysis with regard to tumor stage demonstrated a lower diversity and significant mycobiota alteration in early-stage tumors. Finally, the fungal correlation showed a close relationship within the community and concomitantly revealed a dramatically structured discrepancy in each clinical phenotype. In conclusion, our study has uncovered a distinct fungal dysbiosis and an alteration in the fungal network, which could play important roles in polyp and CRC pathogenesis.
微生物群是指微生物群落，它们存在于所有多细胞生物中。这个群落对其栖息的生物体的生理和疾病都起着重要的作用。人们对宿主-微生物群相互作用给予了很多关注，但对其在致癌作用中的作用却研究甚少。在这项研究中，我们首次对 131 名受试者（包括息肉和结直肠癌（CRC）患者以及健康对照组）的粪便真菌群（也称为真菌特征）进行了特征描述。分析获得的数据以评估真菌的生物多样性和组成。还评估了解剖位置和肿瘤分期对真菌群的影响。使用 Spearman 检验研究了真菌之间的相关性。我们观察到结肠息肉和 CRC 中的真菌失调，包括息肉患者多样性降低，子囊菌/担子菌比例增加，机会性真菌 Trichosporon 和 Malassezia 的比例增加，这可能有利于 CRC 的进展。随后对肿瘤分期的分析表明，早期肿瘤的多样性较低，真菌群发生明显改变。最后，真菌相关性显示出群落内的密切关系，同时揭示了每个临床表型中结构明显的差异。总之，我们的研究揭示了一种独特的真菌失调和真菌网络的改变，这可能在息肉和 CRC 的发病机制中起重要作用。
