Compositional differences of gut microbiome in matched hormone-sensitive and castration-resistant prostate cancer

Yufei Liu; Haowen Jiang

doi:10.21037/tau-20-566

Compositional differences of gut microbiome in matched hormone-sensitive and castration-resistant prostate cancer

Transl Androl Urol. 2020 Oct;9(5):1937-1944. doi: 10.21037/tau-20-566.

Authors

Yufei Liu¹, Haowen Jiang¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Urology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Background: It is known that gut microbiota can regulate cancer therapies. We hypothesized that gut microbiota may interact with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in the process of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Here, the differences in gut microbiota between matched hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (HSPC) and CRPC were determined before and after ADT.

Methods: We profiled the fecal microbiota in matched HSPC and CRPC from 21 patients who received ADT at our urological center using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Differences in microbiota were determined with α/β-diversity and LefSe analysis. Functional inference of microbiota was performed with PICRUSt.

Results: The results showed that the gut microbial community in CRPC was significantly altered with increased abundance of several bacterial flora including genus Phascolarctobacterium and Ruminococcus. For functional analyses, bacterial gene pathways involved in terpenoids/polyketides metabolism and ether lipid metabolism were significantly activated in CRPC.

Conclusions: Measurable differences in the gut microbiota were identified between HSPC and CRPC. Functional validations are further needed to ascertain the underlying mechanism of these differential microbiota in the process of CRPC, and their potential as new targets to enhance ADT responses.

Keywords: Prostate cancer (PCa); castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC); gut microbiota; hormone therapy; hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (HSPC).