Kim Jwa Hoon, Kim Boyeon, Lee Jiwon, Kim Jin, Kwak Jung-Myun, Lee Soohyeon
Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Cancer Research Institute, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Front Oncol. 2025 Sep 1;15:1565661. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1565661. eCollection 2025.
The gut microbiome plays a pivotal role in tumor-microenvironment interactions, inflammation modulation, and immune regulation, thereby affecting the response to anticancer therapy. This pilot study investigated gut composition according to clinical characteristics and its association with chemotherapy response in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Seventeen patients were treated with first-line chemotherapy at Korea University Anam Hospital between 2021 and 2023. Stool samples were collected from 15 patients at baseline, during chemotherapy, or at the time of disease progression, and 16S rRNA sequencing was performed. As a result, among lifestyle factors affecting the development of CRC, smoking habits showed weak differences in beta diversity. Non-smokers predominantly harbored bacteria such as , , , and __, whereas Smokers were associated with and . In terms of baseline characteristics and chemotherapy response, beta diversity exhibited notable differences according to mutation status, and LEfSe analysis indicated that , , and were significantly enriched in patients with mutations. Chemotherapy Responders harbored more beneficial bacteria, notably , despite the lack of differences in diversity between the responder and Non-responder groups. According to disease control during follow-up, abundance significantly increased in the non-progressive disease group. This study suggests that gut microbiome composition is associated with smoking history, RAS mutation status, and chemotherapy response in patients with mCRC. These findings highlight the potential role of the gut microbiome as a biomarker to predict treatment response and prognosis, with its composition shaped by both host lifestyle factors and genetic mutations.
肠道微生物群在肿瘤-微环境相互作用、炎症调节和免疫调节中起关键作用，从而影响对抗癌治疗的反应。这项初步研究根据临床特征调查了转移性结直肠癌（mCRC）患者的肠道组成及其与化疗反应的关联。2021年至2023年期间，17名患者在韩国大学安岩医院接受一线化疗。在基线、化疗期间或疾病进展时从15名患者中收集粪便样本，并进行16S rRNA测序。结果，在影响结直肠癌发生的生活方式因素中，吸烟习惯在β多样性方面显示出微弱差异。非吸烟者主要携带诸如__、__、和__等细菌，而吸烟者与__和__有关。在基线特征和化疗反应方面，β多样性根据__突变状态表现出显著差异，LEfSe分析表明，、和__在具有__突变的患者中显著富集。化疗反应者携带更多有益细菌，尤其是，尽管反应者组和无反应者组之间在多样性上没有差异。根据随访期间的疾病控制情况，__丰度在非进展性疾病组中显著增加。这项研究表明，肠道微生物群组成与mCRC患者的吸烟史、RAS突变状态和化疗反应有关。这些发现突出了肠道微生物群作为预测治疗反应和预后的生物标志物的潜在作用，其组成受宿主生活方式因素和基因突变的影响。
