Foregut microbiome in development of esophageal adenocarcinoma

Esophageal adenocarcinoma, the type of cancer linked to heartburn due to gastroesophageal reflux diseases (GERD), has jumped six fold in the past 30 years, which cannot be explained by the usual environmental or host factors. We intend to characterize the change in the esophageal microbiome (the native bacterial population of the esophagus), in patients at various stages in GERD. If GERD represents a microbiome-related disease, it could be possible to design new antibiotic or probiotic treatment strategies to prevent GERD and reverse the current trend of increasing rate of esophageal adenocarcinoma.

食管腺癌（Esophageal adenocarcinoma）是一类与胃食管反流病（GERD）引发的烧心症状相关的癌症，在过去三十年中其发病率攀升六倍，这一现象无法通过常见的环境或宿主因素解释。本研究旨在解析不同病程阶段的胃食管反流病患者的食管微生物组（食管内原生细菌群落）的变化特征。若胃食管反流病属于微生物组相关疾病，则有望开发新型抗生素或益生菌治疗策略，用于预防胃食管反流病，并扭转当前食管腺癌发病率持续上升的趋势。