Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
mBio. 2019 Jan 22;10(1):e02626-18. doi: 10.1128/mBio.02626-18.
Microbiome-based signatures of disease have focused primarily on the bacterial component of the microbiome for numerous reasons, including ease of sample preparation and depth of the curated bacterial database. However, even more numerous than bacteria are the bacteriophages of the viral portion of the microbiome, which have emerged with identifiable disease signatures in other diseases, such as inflammatory bowel diseases. Here, G. D. Hannigan, M. B. Duhaime, M. T. Ruffin, IV, C. C. Koumpouras, and P. D. Schloss (mBio 9:e02248-18, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02248-18) present a study that explores the potential bacteriophage signatures in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and the associated changes in bacterial signatures. Sampling from a cross section of 60 patients at different stages of CRC in addition to 30 healthy controls, this study highlights the need for greater exploration into the virome, including the "dark matter" of diverse forms that viruses assume in the gastrointestinal tract.
基于微生物组的疾病特征主要集中在微生物组的细菌成分上，原因有很多，包括样本制备的简便性和经过精心整理的细菌数据库的深度。然而，微生物组的病毒部分中的噬菌体甚至比细菌还要多，在其他疾病（如炎症性肠病）中已经出现了具有可识别疾病特征的噬菌体。在这里，G. D. Hannigan、M. B. Duhaime、M. T. Ruffin IV、C. C. Koumpouras 和 P. D. Schloss（mBio 9:e02248-18，https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02248-18）提出了一项研究，探索了结直肠癌（CRC）患者中潜在的噬菌体特征以及与细菌特征相关的变化。该研究从 60 名处于 CRC 不同阶段的患者和 30 名健康对照者的横截面中进行采样，强调了需要更深入地研究病毒组，包括病毒在胃肠道中呈现的多种形式的“暗物质”。
