Nasal Microbiota for NK/T Cell Lymphoma

The human nasal cavity hosts a complex bacterial community, and bacterial colonization of the upper airways is a prerequisite for subsequent invasive disease. Notably, most (80% to 90%) NK/T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL) cases affect the nasal cavity and upper aerodigestive tract (UAT) initially presenting with nonspecific symptoms related to nasal obstruction, sinusitis, ulcer and epistaxis that is easily masquerades as chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), posing great difficulty in accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment. Importantly, nasal microbial dysbiosis has been found in CRS. However, no studies to data have evaluated the nasal microbial feature of NKTCL patients. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to characterize nasal microbiome in patients with NKTCL and demonstrate that the nasal microbiota might be a useful tool in the clinical management, including differential diagnosis, monitoring, risk stratification, staging and prevention, of the disease. Furthermore, we identified a range of unique microbial functions associated with NKTCL using PICRUSt. Based on these data, we proposed that nose-microbiota-UAT NKTCL axis might represent a fascinating avenue of research for this highly heterogeneous malignancy, and research into the interactions between specific nasal microbiome features and the pathogenesis of NKTCL could further advance our understanding of the disease.