Gut microbiota diversity and characteristic microbiota in patients with different histopathological subtypes of lung cancer

Objective To explore the differences in gut microbiota among different histopathological subtypes of lung cancer.

Methods A total of 80 lung cancer patients admitted to the Department of Oncology and Hematology of Anqing First People's Hospital from February 2020 to February 2024 were selected as study subjects. Meanwhile, 80 healthy volunteers who underwent physical examinations during the same period were selected as control group. According to pathological examination results, the lung cancer patients were divided into three subgroups: lung squamous cell carcinoma group, lung adenocarcinoma group, and lung small-cell cancer group. The 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) sequencing technology was used to compare the differences in gut microbiota diversity and the characteristics of species relative abundance between lung cancer patients with different pathological grades and the control group.

Results The proportion of patients with a family history of lung cancer was higher in different lung cancer subtypes than in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The abundance-based coverage estimator (ACE) index, Simpson index, and Shannon index of patients with different lung cancer pathological subtypes were all lower than those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). β-diversity analysis showed that there were significant differences in the variation of gut microbial community structure between the control group and lung cancer patients with different pathological types (P < 0.05). The results of LEfSe indicated that there were differences in gut characteristic microbiota among patients with different pathological subtypes. Specifically, Megamonas was enriched in the LUAD group, Butyrivibrio was enriched in the LSCC group, and Akkermansia was enriched in the SCLC group.

Conclusion There are significant differences in the composition of gut microbiota between lung cancer patients and the normal population, and the gut microbiota of patients with different lung cancer pathological subtypes have distinct characteristics. These differences may provide new biomarkers and therapeutic strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.