Abstract
Oral microbiota can alter cancer susceptibility and progression by modulating metabolism and inflammation. We assessed the association between the oral microbiome and lymph node (LN) metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). We collected a total of 54 saliva samples from patients with OSCC before surgery. LN metastasis was assessed based on postoperative pathological examination. We used QIIME2, linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe), and PICRUSt2 methods to analyze microbial dysbiosis. A random forest classifier was used to assess whether the oral microbiome could predict LN metastasis. Among the 54 OSCC samples, 20 had LN metastasis, and 34 had no evidence of metastasis. There was a significant difference in β-diversity between the metastasis and no metastasis groups. Through LEfSe analysis, the metastasis group was enriched in the genera Prevotella, Stomatobaculum, Bifidobacterium, Peptostreptococcaceae, Shuttleworthia and Finegoldia. Pathways related to signal peptidase II were predominant in the no metastasis group. The RF model showed a modestly high accuracy for predicting metastasis. Differences in microbial community composition and functions were observed in the oral microbiome of patients with OSCC with and without LN metastasis. However, the finding that specific taxa may be associated with LN metastasis should be verified in a further prospective study.
Highlights
P Value microorganisms have been associated with the promotion of carcinogenesis or metastasis through manipulation of the Wnt signaling pathway, which is associated with the E-cadherin–catenin complex[10]
There were no significant differences in age, history of smoking, and denture use between the two groups
It was confirmed that Prevotella, Stomatobaculum, Bifidobacterium were differential features of saliva microbiomes at the genus level in patients with Lymph node (LN) metastasis
Summary
P Value microorganisms have been associated with the promotion of carcinogenesis or metastasis through manipulation of the Wnt signaling pathway, which is associated with the E-cadherin–catenin complex[10]. E-cadherin and related catenin complexes play an important role in cell adhesion, and misregulated E-cadherin is believed to be a key step in cancer metastasis[11]. There have been several studies over the past decades suggesting a link between oral cancer and oral m icrobes[13]. Previous studies have reported that several specific oral microbiomes, such as Streptococcus, Peptostreptococcus, Prevotella, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Capnocytophaga gingivalis, are strongly associated with oral squamous cell cancer[14]. Fusobacterium nucleatum may play an important role in tumorigenesis of oral cancer through several m echanisms[16]. The role of oral microbiota in the pathogenesis of OSCC is becoming more evident, little is known about its association with the occurrence of metastasis. We hypothesized that the oral microbiome is related to metastasis in OSCC patients. We compared the abundance of microbial taxa and functional diversity between OSCC patients with and without LN metastasis
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