Variations in pleural microbiota and metabolic phenotype associated with malignant pleural effusion in human lung adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Background: Lung cancer is the most common cancer-related death worldwide. In 2022, the number of daily deaths of lung cancer was estimated to reach around 350 in the United States. Lung adenocarcinoma is the main subtype of lung cancer and patients with malignant pleural effusion (MPE) suffer from poor prognosis. Microbiota and its metabolites are associated with cancer progression. However, the effect of pleural microbiota on pleural metabolic profile of MPE in lung adenocarcinoma patients remains largely unknown.

Methods: Pleural effusion samples collected from lung adenocarcinoma patients with MPE (n = 14) and tuberculosis pleurisy patients with benign pleural effusion (BPE group, n = 10) were subjected to microbiome (16S rRNA gene sequencing) and metabolome (liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry [LC-MS/MS]) analyses. The datasets were analyzed individually and integrated for combined analysis using various bioinformatic approaches.

Results: The metabolic profile of MPE in lung adenocarcinoma patients were clearly distinguished from BPE with 121 differential metabolites across six significantly enriched pathways identified. Glycerophospholipids, fatty and carboxylic acids, and derivatives were the most common differential metabolites. Sequencing of microbial data revealed nine significantly enriched genera (i.e., Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Lactobacillus) and 26 enriched ASVs (i.e., species Lactobacillus_delbrueckii) in MPE. Integrated analysis correlated MPE-associated microbes with metabolites, such as phosphatidylcholine and metabolites involved in the citrate cycle pathway.

Conclusion: Our results provide substantial evidence of a novel interplay between the pleural microbiota and metabolome, which was drastically perturbed in MPE in lung adenocarcinoma patients. Microbe-associated metabolites can be used for further therapeutic explorations.

Keywords: carboxylic acids; fatty acids; glycerophospholipids; malignant pleural effusion; metabolome; microbiome.