TY - JOUR
T1 - A prospective study of the adaptive changes in the gut microbiome during standard-of-care chemoradiotherapy for gynecologic cancers
AU - El Alam, Molly B.
AU - Sims, Travis T.
AU - Kouzy, Ramez
AU - Biegert, Greyson W.G.
AU - Jaoude, Joseph A.B.I.
AU - Karpinets, Tatiana V.
AU - Yoshida-Court, Kyoko
AU - Wu, Xiaogang
AU - Delgado-Medrano, Andrea Y.
AU - Mezzari, Melissa P.
AU - Ajami, Nadim J.
AU - Solley, Travis
AU - Ahmed-Kaddar, Mustapha
AU - Lin, Lilie L.
AU - Ramondetta, Lois
AU - Jazaeri, Amir
AU - Jhingran, Anuja
AU - Eifel, Patricia J.
AU - Schmeler, Kathleen M.
AU - Wargo, Jennifer
AU - Klopp, Ann H.
AU - Colbert, Lauren E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2021 El Alam et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2021/3
Y1 - 2021/3
N2 - Background A diverse and abundant gut microbiome can improve cancer patients' treatment response; however, the effect of pelvic chemoradiotherapy (CRT) on gut diversity and composition is unclear. The purpose of this prospective study was to identify changes in the diversity and composition of the gut microbiome during and after pelvic CRT. Materials and methods Rectal swabs from 58 women with cervical, vaginal, or vulvar cancer from two institutions were prospectively analyzed before CRT (baseline), during CRT (weeks 1, 3, and 5), and at first follow-up (week 12) using 16Sv4 rRNA gene sequencing of the V4 hypervariable region of the bacterial 16S rRNA marker gene. 42 of these patients received antibiotics during the study period. Observed operational taxonomic units (OTUs; representative of richness) and Shannon, Simpson, Inverse Simpson, and Fisher diversity indices were used to characterize alpha (within-sample) diversity. Changes over time were assessed using a paired t-test, repeated measures ANOVA, and linear mixed modeling. Compositional changes in specific bacteria over time were evaluated using linear discriminant analysis effect size. Results Gut microbiome richness and diversity levels continually decreased throughout CRT (mean Shannon diversity index, 2.52 vs. 2.91; all P <0.01), but were at or near baseline levels in 60% of patients by week 12. Patients with higher gut diversity at baseline had the steepest decline in gut microbiome diversity. Gut microbiome composition was significantly altered during CRT, with increases in Proteobacteria and decreases in Clostridiales, but adapted after CRT, with increases in Bacteroides species. Conclusion After CRT, the diversity of the gut microbiomes in this population tended to return to baseline levels by the 12 week follow-up period, but structure and composition remained significantly altered. These changes should be considered when designing studies to analyze the gut microbiome in patients who receive pelvic CRT for gynecologic cancers.
AB - Background A diverse and abundant gut microbiome can improve cancer patients' treatment response; however, the effect of pelvic chemoradiotherapy (CRT) on gut diversity and composition is unclear. The purpose of this prospective study was to identify changes in the diversity and composition of the gut microbiome during and after pelvic CRT. Materials and methods Rectal swabs from 58 women with cervical, vaginal, or vulvar cancer from two institutions were prospectively analyzed before CRT (baseline), during CRT (weeks 1, 3, and 5), and at first follow-up (week 12) using 16Sv4 rRNA gene sequencing of the V4 hypervariable region of the bacterial 16S rRNA marker gene. 42 of these patients received antibiotics during the study period. Observed operational taxonomic units (OTUs; representative of richness) and Shannon, Simpson, Inverse Simpson, and Fisher diversity indices were used to characterize alpha (within-sample) diversity. Changes over time were assessed using a paired t-test, repeated measures ANOVA, and linear mixed modeling. Compositional changes in specific bacteria over time were evaluated using linear discriminant analysis effect size. Results Gut microbiome richness and diversity levels continually decreased throughout CRT (mean Shannon diversity index, 2.52 vs. 2.91; all P <0.01), but were at or near baseline levels in 60% of patients by week 12. Patients with higher gut diversity at baseline had the steepest decline in gut microbiome diversity. Gut microbiome composition was significantly altered during CRT, with increases in Proteobacteria and decreases in Clostridiales, but adapted after CRT, with increases in Bacteroides species. Conclusion After CRT, the diversity of the gut microbiomes in this population tended to return to baseline levels by the 12 week follow-up period, but structure and composition remained significantly altered. These changes should be considered when designing studies to analyze the gut microbiome in patients who receive pelvic CRT for gynecologic cancers.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102526115&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85102526115&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0247905
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0247905
M3 - Review article
C2 - 33662003
AN - SCOPUS:85102526115
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 16
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 3 March
M1 - e0247905
ER -