DataSheet_1_Association of Cutibacterium acnes with human thyroid cancer.pdf

IntroductionThe diverse subtypes of thyroid carcinoma have distinct clinical outcomes despite a comparable spectrum of underlying genetic alterations. Beyond genetic alterations, sparse efforts have been made to characterize the microbes associated with thyroid cancer. In this study, we examine the microbial profile of thyroid cancer.
MethodsWe sequenced the whole transcriptome of 70 thyroid cancers (40 papillary and 30 anaplastic). Using Infectious Pathogen Detector IPD 2.0, we analysed the relative abundance of 1060 microbes across 70 tumours from patients with thyroid cancer against 118 tumour samples from patients with breast, cervical, colorectal, and tongue cancer.
ResultsOur analysis reveals a significant prevalence of Cutibacterium acnes in 58.6% thyroid cancer samples compared to other cancer types (p=0.00038). Immune cell fraction analysis between thyroid cancer samples with high and low Cutibacterium loads identify enrichment of immunosuppressive cells, including Tregs (p=0.015), and other anti-inflammatory cytokines in the tumour microenvironment, suggesting an immune evasion/immunosuppression milieu is associated with the infection. A higher burden of Cutibacterium acnes was also found to be associated with poor survival defining a distinct sub-group of thyroid cancer.
ConclusionCutibacterium acnes is associated with immune suppression and poor prognosis in a subpopulation of thyroid cancer. This study may help design novel therapeutic measures involving appropriate antibiotics to manage the disease better.

引言：尽管甲状腺癌的多种亚型具有相似的潜在遗传改变谱，但它们的临床结局却存在显著差异。除遗传改变外，目前针对甲状腺癌相关微生物组的表征研究尚少。本研究旨在分析甲状腺癌的微生物谱特征。方法：我们对70例甲状腺癌组织（40例乳头状甲状腺癌、30例间变性甲状腺癌）的全转录组进行了测序。借助感染性病原体检测工具（Infectious Pathogen Detector 2.0），我们分析了70例甲状腺癌患者肿瘤组织中1060种微生物的相对丰度，并以118例来自乳腺癌、宫颈癌、结直肠癌及舌癌患者的肿瘤样本作为对照。结果：分析结果显示，与其他癌种相比，痤疮丙酸杆菌（Cutibacterium acnes）在58.6%的甲状腺癌样本中呈高检出率（p=0.00038）。对高、低痤疮丙酸杆菌载量的甲状腺癌样本进行免疫细胞组分分析后发现，肿瘤微环境中存在免疫抑制性细胞（包括调节性T细胞（Tregs），p=0.015）及其他抗炎细胞因子的富集，提示免疫逃逸/免疫抑制微环境与该菌的感染存在关联。此外，更高的痤疮丙酸杆菌载量与更差的生存预后相关，由此可界定出甲状腺癌的一个独特亚群。结论：痤疮丙酸杆菌与甲状腺癌亚群的免疫抑制及不良预后相关。本研究可为设计包含合适抗生素在内的新型治疗方案以更有效地管理该疾病提供参考。