Pilot Study Demonstrating the Lung Microbiome as a Potential Marker for Lung Cancer

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Abstract Submission 

Rishindra Reddy (1), Kiran Lagisetty (1), Jules Lin (1), Andrew Chang (1), Frank Weinberg (2)

(1) University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI, (2) University of Illinois-Chicago, Chicago, IL

*Rishindra Reddy    -  Contact Me
University of Michigan Medical Center

Kiran Lagisetty    -  Contact Me
University of Michigan Medical Center

*Jules Lin    -  Contact Me
University of Michigan Medical Center

*Andrew Chang    -  Contact Me
University of Michigan Medical Center

Frank Weinberg    -  Contact Me
University of Illinois-Chicago

*Rishindra Reddy    -  Contact Me
University of Michigan Medical Center

Objectives: Lung cancer continues to be diagnosed at later stages limiting curative treatment options. The role of the lung microbiome in the proximal lung as a marker for a more peripheral cancer is not well understood. We hypothesized that the lung microbiome pattern could differentiate between tumor types and stages.
Methods: We collected central lobar bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and brushing samples from early-stage lung cancer patients between July 2018 and May 2019 at a single academic center. Samples were collected from the affected lobe, ipsilateral non-affected lobe, and contralateral lobe. We performed microbial sequencing, untargeted metabolomics and cytokine analysis. We compared clinical and pathologic findings to microbiome signatures.
Results: Samples were collected from 28 patients with resectable lung cancer. Affected lobes displayed a different microbiome signature than contra-lateral lobes. In patents with adenocarcinoma (A), Microbiome diversity trended towards being less in patients with poor differentiated tumors vs those with well differentiated (p=0.08). The microbiome diversity in patients with A was similar to those with squamous cell cancer (SCC) (p=0.27). There were no differences in diversity or composition in the non-affected lobes of patients with A vs SCC. In evaluating the contralateral lobes, COPD patients trended towards having less diversity than those without COPD (p=0.1312).
Conclusions: The lung microbiome can potentially be used to differentiate between affected and non-affected lobes in the same patient. Further work is needed to understand the specific differences seen in the specific flora.

Basic and Translational Research