Background:The respiratory microbiota is pivotal in maintaining pulmonary health and modulating disease; however, the intricate interplay between smoking, lung cancer, and microbiome composition remains incompletely understood. Here, we characterized the lower respiratory tract microbiome in a Russian cohort of 297 individuals, comprising healthy subjects and lung cancer patients of different smoking statuses (current smokers, former smokers, and nonsmokers).Methods:Using next-generation sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene from unstimulated sputum samples, we identify distinct microbiota signatures linked to smoking and lung cancer. A PERMANOVA (Adonis) test and linear discriminant analysis effect size were used for statistical analysis of data.Results:In healthy individuals, smoking did not affect microbiome diversity but markedly altered its composition, characterized by an increase inStreptococcusand a reduction inNeisseriaas well as other genera such asFusobacterium,Alloprevotella,Capnocytophaga, andZhouea. Healthy former smokers’ microbiota profiles closely resembled those of healthy nonsmokers. In lung cancer patients, microbiome diversity and composition were minimally impacted by smoking, possibly due to the dominant influence of tumor-microenvironment-related factors. Nevertheless,Neisseriaabundance remained significantly lower in smokers across advanced-stage lung cancer. Lung cancer patients exhibited distinctive microbiota signatures, including enrichment ofFlavobacteriia,Bacillales, andPasteurellalesand depletion ofAlphaproteobacteria,Coriobacteriaceae, andMicrobacteriaceae, irrespective of smoking status.Conclusions:Our findings emphasize the profound impact of smoking on healthy respiratory microbiota which may be masked by lung-cancer-related factors. These insights highlight the necessity of considering smoking status in microbiome studies to enhance the understanding of respiratory health and disease.
背景：呼吸道微生物群在维持肺部健康和调节疾病中起着关键作用，然而吸烟、肺癌与微生物群组成之间的复杂相互作用仍未完全阐明。本研究以297名俄罗斯人群为研究对象，包括健康受试者及不同吸烟状态（当前吸烟者、既往吸烟者和非吸烟者）的肺癌患者，对其下呼吸道微生物群进行了特征分析。 方法：通过对非诱导痰样本进行16S rRNA基因二代测序，我们识别出与吸烟及肺癌相关的特定微生物群特征。采用PERMANOVA（Adonis）检验和线性判别分析效应量对数据进行统计分析。 结果：在健康个体中，吸烟虽未影响微生物群多样性，但显著改变了其组成特征，表现为链球菌属丰度增加，奈瑟菌属以及梭杆菌属、异普雷沃菌属、二氧化碳噬纤维菌属和周氏菌属等其他菌属丰度降低。健康既往吸烟者的微生物群特征与非吸烟者高度相似。在肺癌患者中，微生物群多样性和组成受吸烟的影响较小，这可能是由于肿瘤微环境相关因素的主导作用所致。然而在晚期肺癌患者中，吸烟者的奈瑟菌属丰度仍显著较低。无论吸烟状态如何，肺癌患者均表现出独特的微生物群特征，包括黄杆菌纲、芽孢杆菌目和巴斯德菌目的富集，以及α-变形菌纲、红蝽菌科和微杆菌科的减少。 结论：我们的研究结果强调了吸烟对健康呼吸道微生物群的深远影响，这种影响可能被肺癌相关因素所掩盖。这些发现凸显了在微生物群研究中考虑吸烟状态的必要性，以增进对呼吸道健康与疾病的理解。
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家