Intratumoral microbiome of metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most lethal oncological diseases. Low patient survival rates are associated with aggressive tumor progression and metastasis, which may be influenced by the composition of the tumor microbiome. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of the microbiome in PDAC progression and metastasis. At the beginning of the study, we evaluated the microbial composition of control samples (swabs from work surfaces, empty paraffin, extraction, and sequencing controls) and filtered out contaminant taxa. The results showed statistically significant differences in the abundance of several bacterial genera between metastatic and non-metastatic tumors (Zoogloea, Spirosoma, Variovorax, Xenophilus, Edaphobaculum, Finegoldia, Hydrogenophilus, Rothia, Haemophilus, Sphingomonas, Streptococcus, Cnuibacter, Noviherbaspirillum, Neisseria, Dietzia), as well as between wild-type tumors and those with mutations in the KRAS gene (Pedococcus-Phycicoccus, Aminobacter, Variovorax, Xenophilus, Edaphobaculum, Pajaroellobacter, Haemophilus, Nitratireductor, Leucobacter, Tepidimonas, Sphingomonas, Rarobacter, Hymenobacter, Dietzia). Thus, the PDAC microbiome shows specific differences depending on the metastatic potential and genetic status of the tumor, indicating its possible role in the pathogenesis of the disease.