Can Smoking Cause Differences in Urine Microbiome in Male Patients With Bladder Cancer? A Retrospective Study

Wenchao Ma; Wentao Zhang; Liliang Shen; Ji Liu; Fuhang Yang; Niraj Maskey; Hong Wang; Junfeng Zhang; Yang Yan; Xudong Yao

doi:10.3389/fonc.2021.677605

Can Smoking Cause Differences in Urine Microbiome in Male Patients With Bladder Cancer? A Retrospective Study

Front Oncol. 2021 Jun 8:11:677605. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2021.677605. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Wenchao Ma^{1

2}, Wentao Zhang¹, Liliang Shen^{1

3}, Ji Liu¹, Fuhang Yang¹, Niraj Maskey¹, Hong Wang¹, Junfeng Zhang¹, Yang Yan¹, Xudong Yao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Urology, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
² Shanghai Clinical College, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
³ Department of Urology, The Affiliated People's Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, China.

Abstract

Background: Tobacco smoking is a carcinogen for many cancers including bladder cancer. The microbiota is involved in the occurrence, development, and treatment of tumors. We explored the composition of male urinary microbiome and the correlation between tobacco smoking and microbiome in this study.

Methods: Alpha diversity, principal component analysis (PCA) and Adonis analysis, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) coupled with effect size measurement, and PICRUSt function predictive analysis were used to compare different microbiome between smokers and non-smokers in men.

Results: There were 26 qualified samples included in the study. Eleven of them are healthy controls, and the others are from men with bladder cancer. Simpson index and the result of PCA analysis between smokers and non-smokers were not different (P > 0.05) in healthy men. However, the abundance of Bacteroidaceae, Erysipelotrichales, Lachnospiraceae, Bacteroides, and so on in the urinary tract of smokers is much higher than that of non-smokers. Compared to non-smokers, the alpha diversity in smokers was elevated in patients with bladder cancer (P < 0.05). PCA analysis showed a significant difference between smokers and non-smokers (P < 0.001), indicating that tobacco smoking plays a vital role in urinary tract microbial composition.

Conclusion: The composition of microbiome in the urinary tract is closely related to tobacco smoking. This phenomenon is more significant in patients with bladder cancer. This indicates tobacco smoking may promote the occurrence and development of bladder cancer by changing urinary tract microbiome.

Keywords: bladder cancer; male; microbiome; smoke; urine.