Alteration of pro-carcinogenic gut microbiota is associated with clear cell renal cell carcinoma tumorigenesis

Bo-Yu Yang; Fang-Zhou Zhao; Xuan-Hao Li; Mei-Shan Zhao; Jing-Cheng Lv; Ming-Jun Shi; Jun Li; Zhi-Yuan Zhou; Jing-Jing Wang; Jian Song

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1133782

Alteration of pro-carcinogenic gut microbiota is associated with clear cell renal cell carcinoma tumorigenesis

Front Microbiol. 2023 Apr 5:14:1133782. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1133782. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Bo-Yu Yang¹, Fang-Zhou Zhao¹, Xuan-Hao Li¹, Mei-Shan Zhao¹, Jing-Cheng Lv¹, Ming-Jun Shi¹, Jun Li¹, Zhi-Yuan Zhou^{1

2}, Jing-Jing Wang³, Jian Song¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Urology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
² Shanghai Pudong New Area Gongli Hospital, Shanghai, China.
³ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Pancreatic Diseases, Institute of Translational Medicine, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Objective: Increasing evidence suggests that gut microbiota is involved in the occurrence and progression of urinary system diseases such as clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). However, the mechanism of how alteration of gut metagenome promotes ccRCC remains unclear. Here we aim to elucidate the association of specific gut bacteria and their metabolites with ccRCC.

Methods: In a pilot case-control study among 30 ccRCC patients (RCC group) and 30 healthy controls (Control group), 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing were analyzed from fecal samples collected prior to surgery or hospitalization. Alpha diversity and beta diversity analysis of the gut microbiota were performed, and differential taxa were identified by multivariate statistics. Meanwhile, serum metabolism was measured by UHPLC-MS, and differential genes were identified based on the TCGA database.

Results: Alpha diversity found there were no significant microbial diversity differences of gut microbiota between the RCC group and the Control group. However, beta diversity analysis showed that the overall structures of the two groups were significantly separated (p = 0.008). Random Forests revealed the relative abundances of 20 species differed significantly between the RCC group and the Control group, among which nine species were enriched in the RCC group such as Desulfovibrionaceae, and 11 species were less abundant such as four kinds of Lactobacillus. Concomitantly, serum level of taurine, which was considered to be consumed by Desulfovibrionaceae and released by Lactobacillus, has decreased in the RCC group. In addition, macrophage-related genes such as Gabbr1 was upregulated in ccRCC patients.

Conclusion: Reduction of protective bacteria, proliferation of sulfide-degrading bacteria Desulfovibrionaceae, reduction of taurine, and enrichment of macrophage related genes might be the risk predictors of ccRCC.

Keywords: 16S rRNA; clear cell renal cell carcinoma; gut microbiota; inflammation; metabolite.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Scientific Foundation of China (Grant No. 82002711), Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals’ Youth Programme (Code: QML20200105), and Training Fund for Open Projects at Clinical Institutes and Departments of Capital Medical University (CCMU2022ZKYXY019).