Introduction. Multiple reports have attempted to describe the tumour microbiota in head and neck cancer (HNSC). Gap statement. However, these have failed to produce a consistent microbiota signature, which may undermine understanding the importance of bacterial-mediated effects in HNSC. Aim. The aim of this study is to consolidate these datasets and identify a consensus microbiota signature in HNSC. Methodology. We analysed 12 published HNSC 16S rRNA microbial datasets collected from cancer, cancer-adjacent and non-cancer tissues to generate a consensus microbiota signature. These signatures were then validated using The Cancer Microbiome Atlas (TCMA) database and correlated with the tumour microenvironment phenotypes and patient’s clinical outcome. Results. We identified a consensus microbial signature at the genus level to differentiate between HNSC sample types, with cancer and cancer-adjacent tissues sharing more similarity than non-cancer tissues. Univariate analysis on 16S rRNA datasets identified significant differences in the abundance of 34 bacterial genera among the tissue types. Paired cancer and cancer-adjacent tissue analyses in 16S rRNA and TCMA datasets identified increased abundance in Fusobacterium in cancer tissues and decreased abundance of Atopobium , Rothia and Actinomyces in cancer-adjacent tissues. Furthermore, these bacteria were associated with different tumour microenvironment phenotypes. Notably, high Fusobacterium signature was associated with high neutrophil (r=0.37, P<0.0001), angiogenesis (r=0.38, P<0.0001) and granulocyte signatures (r=0.38, P<0.0001) and better overall patient survival [continuous: HR 0.8482, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.7758–0.9273, P=0.0003]. Conclusion. Our meta-analysis demonstrates a consensus microbiota signature for HNSC, highlighting its potential importance in this disease.

中文翻译：

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头颈癌相关微生物群特征的鉴定：对 16S rRNA 和癌症微生物组图谱数据集的系统回顾和荟萃分析

介绍。多个报告试图描述头颈癌 (HNSC) 中的肿瘤微生物群。差距声明。然而，这些方法未能产生一致的微生物群特征，这可能会破坏对 HNSC 中细菌介导作用的重要性的理解。目的。本研究的目的是整合这些数据集并确定 HNSC 中一致的微生物群特征。方法。我们分析了从癌症、癌旁组织和非癌症组织收集的 12 个已发表的 HNSC 16S rRNA 微生物数据集，以生成一致的微生物群特征。然后使用癌症微生物组图谱 (TCMA) 数据库验证这些特征，并将其与肿瘤微环境表型和患者的临床结果相关联。结果。我们在属水平上确定了一个共有的微生物特征，以区分 HNSC 样本类型，其中癌症和癌旁组织比非癌症组织具有更多相似性。对 16S rRNA 数据集的单变量分析发现，组织类型之间 34 个细菌属的丰度存在显着差异。 16S rRNA 和 TCMA 数据集中的配对癌症和癌旁组织分析发现，癌组织中梭杆菌属丰度增加，癌旁组织中Atopobium、Rothia和放线菌丰度减少。此外，这些细菌与不同的肿瘤微环境表型相关。值得注意的是，高梭杆菌特征与高中性粒细胞特征（r=0.37，P <0.0001）、血管生成（r=0.38，P <0.0001）和粒细胞特征（r=0.38，P <0.0001）以及更好的患者总体生存率相关[连续： HR 0.8482，95% 置信区间 (CI) 0.7758–0.9273，P =0.0003]。结论。我们的荟萃分析证明了 HNSC 的共识微生物群特征，强调了其在这种疾病中的潜在重要性。