Gut Microbiome May Aid Diagnosis, Prognostication in Metastatic NSCLC

Researchers have found evidence to suggest that patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have unique gut microbiomes.

Based on these findings, the researchers have theorized that intestinal flora could be used to aid the diagnosis of metastatic NSCLC or predict prognosis in these patients.

The researchers presented their findings in a poster at the 2023 World Conference on Lung Cancer.

The team studied 103 patients who were newly diagnosed with NSCLC, including 78 patients who had distant metastasis and 25 who did not. The researchers collected fecal samples from all patients before treatment, and the team performed metagenomic sequencing to compare differences in intestinal flora.

The researchers found that patients with metastatic disease had significantly lower abundance of Ruthenibacterium lactatiformans (P =.0378) and Bacteroides stercoris (P =.0489) than patients without metastatic disease.

On the other hand, patients with metastatic disease had a significantly greater abundance of Subdoligranulum (P =.0175), Ruthenibacterium (P =.0331), Fournierella (P =.0045), Ruminococcus bromii (P =.0393), Subdoligranulum sp 60_17 (P =.0385), and Eubacterium sp OM08-24 (P =.0035).

The researchers also found that patients with pleural metastatic disease had lower abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila (P =.0407) and Dialister invisus (P =.0440) but greater abundance of Merdimonas faecis (P =.0136) and Anaeroglobus geminatus (P =.0105) when compared to patients with metastasis at other sites.

“The present study suggests that patients with NSCLC metastasis have a novel intestinal flora profile, and these unique gut microbiomes may serve as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and prediction of prognosis of NSCLC metastasis,” the researchers wrote in their poster.

Disclosures: No disclosures were provided.

Reference

Liu C-G, Sun J-Z, Zang D, Chen J. Effect of gut microbiome on metastasis of non-small cell lung cancer. Presented at WCLC 2023. September 9-12, 2023. Abstract WS02.15

This article originally appeared on Cancer Therapy Advisor