Luminal and Tumor-Associated Gut Microbiome Features Linked to Precancerous Lesions Malignancy Risk: A Compositional Approach

Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide. Human gut microbiome plays important roles in protecting against it, as well as contributing to its onset and progression. Identification of specific bacterial taxa associated with early stages of colorectal cancer may help develop effective microbiome-based diagnostics. For precancerous lesions, links of their characteristics to luminal and tumor-associated microbiome composition are to be elucidated. Paired stool and tumor brush biopsy samples were collected from 50 patients with precancerous lesions and early forms of colon cancer; their microbial communities were profiled using high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing. We showed that the microbiome differences between stool and biopsy samples can be to a high extent computationally corrected. Compositionality-aware statistical analysis of microbiome composition revealed its associations with the number of lesions, lesion type, location and malignization pathway. A major determinant of precancerous lesions malignancy risk—the number of lesions—was positively associated with the abundance of H2S-producing taxa. Our results contribute to the basis for developing early non-invasive colorectal cancer diagnostics via identifying microorganisms likely participating in early stages of cancer pathogenesis.