The human lung sputum eukaryotome as potential indicators of lung cancer

Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women, second only to prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women, with only around 15% of patients currently surviving up to 5 years post diagnosis. This is a consequence of current poor diagnosis and lack of screening tests for lung cancer. Often patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) progress to lung cancer, therefore monitoring COPD patients and obtaining biomarkers defining transition points are crucial for long term survival of patients within this category. We have previously shown that the bacterium Granulicatella adiacens may be potential biomarkers for lung cancer and in this study we investigated the sputum eukaryotome, using shotgun metagenomics and 18S rDNA sequencing, in healthy patients and those with COPD or lung cancer. Microbial eukaryotic metagenomic sequencing showed that … 18S rDNA profiling of a subset of samples confirmed the initial taxonomic distributions amongst healthy individuals and those with either COPD or lung cancer. This data provides preliminary data suggesting that XX and XX may be viable biomarkers indicating the development of lung cancer.